What If
by Soulia17
Summary: Set after 4x10 "Free Ride" as a alternative ending to that episode and a What If story about Deeks and Kensi taking off with Julia to Lake Tahoe to spend the christmas holidays together. Just a nice romantic story about Densi before the Christmas Days arrive. Enjoy :)
1. Chapter 1

**AN: So, here is my first chapter of my first Fanfic about Kensi and Deeks and I´m really thrilled to hear from you what you think of it. I was thinking about putting each day in a chapter apart from the first two, cause there is some build up required and a lot happening as well. Please enjoy and keep in mind, that english is not my first language - so any mistakes made are all mine.**

**Also, a big THANK YOU to Iamhistorian and bookdiva for betareading and giving me encouragement and helpfull advice as well. **

**I´ve got the next two chapters already finished so depending on reviews and messages I will update in the next few days and hope that I will be able to finish the story before Christmas. :) **

**Disclaimer: I don´t own anything of NCIS Los Angeles and just had a nice time with Deeks, Kensi and Julia in the snow :) **

* * *

**The Way to Reno**

It was Christmas Eve and the whole team had made it home safely, back to a very festive looking OPS in Los Angeles. As they entered the building they were greeted by Nell and Eric, who had to stay back and wait for updates on how the mission went on the USS Van Buren.

Now both tech specialists were already in their costumes and Eric shifted slightly nervous from one foot to the other, cause he could already see the faces and hear the comments from the guys and he was sure, that even Kensi wouldn´t be able to keep it quiet. So when the team approached the two and he got just a smile from everyone and Nell a friendly hug, he was mildly surprised.

"I guess Christmas has its toll on everyone and I should feel very lucky right now," Eric whispered to Nell, while the rest of the team sat down at their desks for a moment. It´s been quite a long night and beginning of a new day, after they solved the crime on the USS Van Buren and made it back from the middle of the Pacific just in time to spend Christmas Eve with their family or friends and to catch flights, for those heading off to a place covered in fresh snow. Nell just smiled at Eric, took his hand in hers and waved at the rest of the team.

"Merry Christmas to everyone and have a nice time. We would stay, but Eric and I have a …. a place where we have to be right now," and with that she shoved Eric out of OPS, breaking his numbness as he was obviously still processing the reaction of the team to his costume. Everyone just waved and smiled at the two and wished them nice holidays as well.

"Are they really going out in those elf costumes?" asked Sam out of curiosity and looked at Callen, who just shrugged one shoulder and finished packing his bag, got up and looked at Sam.

"You coming? I think your family is waiting, right?" looking at Sam and smiling slightly, not able to hide his sense of delight about not having to spend the holidays on his own, even though he was usually absolutely fine with being on his own. But Christmas was special and it has become quite a nice tradition for him to spend this evening with Sam and his family and maybe Hetty later.

So when Sam finally got out of his chair and joined Callen, patting his back and smiling, he glanced at Deeks and Kensi, getting their things gathered slowly and exchanging glances here and there.

"What are you two up to during the holidays? I mean, you are welcome at my place, I´m sure Michelle and the kids would love to have you there as well," he raised an eyebrow and waited for an answer, but was greeted with a really unusual silence. He looked at Callen and waited for an explanation, but Callen just looked at Deeks and Kensi as well.

"Come on, spill it …. What are you doing?" Callen put a bit of strength in his words, using his being the Senior Agent to find out, what those two were up to. Both agents shared another glance and then Deeks couldn´t hold it any longer.

"We are catching a flight to Reno and we will spend the holidays at Lake Tahoe …" Deeks couldn´t finish the sentence, cause Kensi cut in and stated "My mom is joining us and we have to go now and get her." With that, she rushed to get out of her chair, grab Deeks shirt at his arm and drag him with her to the doors and to his car, cause they once again carpooled the morning before. Deeks could just hear Sam and Callen wish them a nice time, before he was kind of pushed in the driver's seat of his own car.

"Don´t ask," was all he got from Kensi, who looked a little uncertain and gestured for him to get the car started. "Are you going to drive any time soon or do I have to explain to you how a car works?" she managed with a furious look on her face.

Deeks just smiled and shrugged, starting the car and setting off to Kensi´s apartment to get her things for the trip to Lake Tahoe. Kensi was shifting in her seat, as if something was wrong and because Deeks knew her so well, he was sure she wasn´t really happy with herself agreeing to this trip.

* * *

_A few days earlier_

"_So, what are you up to for the Christmas holidays?" asked Deeks while pretending to admire the decorated Palm tree, which was their kind of Christmas tree for the mission. _

_Kensi just went on putting some more colourful feathers on the palm tree and didn´t really look up at Deeks when she finally said "Uhm, don´t really know. Probably watch some telly, get something nice to eat and see my mom at some point. What have you planned?"_

_Deeks turned to Kensi and got her attention so he could address her directly. "I booked a nice cabin up at Lake Tahoe and …. Yeah, well, there are two more rooms for you and your mom if you´d like to come. I know you´ve been thinking about what to do with Julia at the holidays and I think she would love to come and spent some time with you. You could have joining rooms and we all could go snowboarding together …. , " he trailed off as soon as he realized that he´s been babbling again. _

_Kensi raised an eyebrow at him, trying to figure out if his offer was genuine or just a joke, but from the look on his face he was serious about this one. Before she could say anything Deeks went on. _

"_Hey, if you´re afraid of snowboarding we can start with the small slopes and go from there. I would even catch you …. ," which was the point where Kensi had to cut in, cause that was something she couldn´t leave. _

"_Hey, this here is a black diamond-shaped body," she said while gesturing around in front of her own body, knowing instantly that she had said something wrong. _

"_Oh, I´ve never questioned that, but how about your snowboarding skills?" he shot back with a wide grin, already preparing for the punch from Kensi, but he was greeted with the sight of a slightly blushed Kensi and silence. Right at the moment when he´s been about to turn around and cancel the whole thing Kensi reached out and touched his arm slightly, making him stop in motion and look up at her face. _

"_Deeks …. I think my mom would love to get away for the holidays …. So I guess … I mean thank you for asking and organising." And before she could take back her decision she grabbed her phone and dialled her mom´s number. _

_Deeks stood next to Kensi still a bit amazed and listened while Kensi was talking to Julia. _

"_Hi Mom, it´s me ….. yeah, I will …. I was just wondering if you´ve got anything planned for Christmas? ….. No? …. Great, cause we would like …. I mean Deeks booked a cabin at Lake Tahoe and asked …. Yes, he did …. Mom, can I just finish please? … Thank you. …. So, there is a cabin booked for the three of us for a few days and we would fly from LAX to Reno …. Perfect, pack some warm stuff I think it´s freezing up there …. And Mom? I´m looking forward to it … Alright see you then, take care." And with that she finished the call and when she turned around she saw Deeks face with a really pleased expression and she was sure she would regret this at some point. But Deeks just nodded once and before he could say anything else there was the whistle from Eric calling them up to the tech room._

* * *

Still, Deeks wasn´t entirely sure, what had made Kensi say yes to this, but he knew, that she had been happy to tell her mom they weren´t staying home and instead would be spending Christmas in the mountains with lots of snow and if she was honest to herself, she was really excited about spending time with her mom and have some snow under her feet for what felt like a first time in ages. Deeks looked at Kensi for a moment, returning his gaze to the road and then cleared his throat.

"So, what was that all about back at OSP?" he asked lightly, trying to get a reaction from her and he wasn´t disappointed.

"We were already running late and I don´t want my mom having to wait for us," she shot back at him a bit harsher than intended.

"Okay, you and I both know that´s not true. We still got more than two hours before the flight takes off and we will meet your mom absolutely in time."

Deeks could practically hear Kensi rolling her eyes at him and she turned her face to the window on her side and took a deep breath. She was aware that Deeks gave her more time than usual to find the right words and she wasn´t sure what to think of it.

"Yeah, you´re right. But I wanted to give you some time to pack all your stuff, cause I happen to know, that you haven´t done that so far," she offered, already knowing that Deeks wouldn´t buy that either, but she had to try. And to her surprise, Deeks just laughed in his adorable way and let it go.

"You´re right. I have to think twice with your mom around, want to make a good impression on her," and with those words he smiled brightly at Kensi and enjoyed her face contorting into a funny grimace. Kensi just huffed a little frustrated at her so good-tempered partner and remained silent for the rest of the ride to her apartment.

As soon as they arrived, she jumped out of the car and shot up to her front door, nearly shutting it in Deeks face.

"Whoa, that was close!" Deeks exclaimed and held the door open with one hand, just inches away from his face. Kensi gave him an excusing look and went to her bedroom.

"I´m sorry. I didn´t hear you getting out of the car and following me to the door," her words softened out as she entered her bedroom and grabbed her stuff for the next few days in the cold up at Lake Tahoe.

"Don´t worry, I know that it wasn´t on purpose. Cause I know that you wouldn´t want my beautiful face to be mangled," Deeks assured her, venturing in the room and looking around while waiting for her to finish packing. Looking around he had to think of all the evenings and also nights, that he had spent here with Kensi on the couch watching her favourite movie "Titanic" or any kind of horror film, that she didn´t feel like watching on her own. Not that he would argue with her about it, cause to be honest he really enjoyed those evenings with Kensi snuggled up by his side by the end of the film and chewing her thumbnail.

A moment later Kensi entered the room a bag in hand and a questioning look on her face.

"What Deeks?"

"Nothing." And he just shrugged, starting to turn around and reach for the door, but Kensi got to him and stopped him.

"Don´t fool me, Deeks. You were just thinking about something and I now that smile on your face, so spill it," and with that she raised an eyebrow and fixed him with her mismatched eyes.

"Okay," he surrendered but keeping quiet for a moment longer, just to get punched in the shoulder with Kensi´s feared fist. "I was just wondering, what you need this big bag for. Lingerie and PJs can´t take that much spa …." And there was the fist against his shoulder once again and he let out an honest "Ouch" before laughing and taking the bag from a grumpy looking Kensi. "I was just kidding, Kens. So relax."

"Whatever Deeks, but don´t make me regret saying yes to THIS trip before we even made it to the AIRPORT," was all Kensi could manage to say, cause she actually had packed quite a few to many PJs for the planned 5 days, but back in her bedroom she couldn´t really decide what to wear while on holiday with her mom AND Deeks. As if deciding would have been so much easier with just Deeks around. She shook her head to stop her thoughts from going to that point and walked after Deeks, shutting her door and settling in the car again, now heading to the Airport to meet up with her mom like planned.

Half an hour later they finally had found a parking lot and Deeks had both their bags, one in each hand and a bright smile on his face, not bothering to hide how pleased and happy he was with 5 days of quality time with Kensi and Julia.

"Come on Kensalina, or do you wanna let your mom wait for us?" Deeks asked over his shoulder, cause Kensi was trailing behind and hadn´t even tried to fight him about the bag-carrying thing, which was totally not Kensi style. But maybe she was just showing her holiday face, being a bit more laid back about stuff that would normally get her furious during an investigation or any other usual day.

"Coming, Deeks. And I´m pretty sure my mom is not even here, cause we are half an hour early," she shot back, ignoring his nickname, which was sometimes better than question it.

When they finally made it to the luggage drop-off, Kensi heard a familiar voice behind her and as she turned around she saw her mom, wrapped up in a much to warm looking jacket for Los Angeles and heading their way. Julia hugged Kensi tightly and put a small kiss on her cheek, before turning to Deeks and flashing him a happy smile. Kensi just shook her head whilst her mom couldn´t see it, because she still couldn´t really understand what it was, that made her smile at Deeks so happily, even though she had to admit that Deeks had been really good with her mom, back when he found out that her mom lived just 5 minutes from her apartment and that she hadn´t actually seen her for years. So for some reason Julia had instantly liked Deeks when he had brought Kensi back into her life and what was there not to like about Deeks, except for his at some times annoying sense of humour, hisnicknames for her – badly - and always being there for her even in times when she thought all she wanted to be was alone.

Deeks and her mom exchanged friendly greetings and he helped her with her luggage as well, so in no time they were all checked in and had some time to stroll through the airport, grab some food, which was Kensi´s first request surprising no one, and then hit some of the shops. Julia left the two to that, mentioning something like forgotten presents and needing the restroom and with that Kensi and Deeks were standing in the middle of the duty-free area, looking surprised and unsure what to do now.

Next thing Kensi knew was Deeks bumping in her quite hard, but gaining his balance by wrapping his arms around her and stepping to the side, catching a glimpse of the person that had bumped into him. After a moment of hesitation he let go of Kensi, running his hand through his hair and clearing his throat.

"Sorry, but it seems that Christmas is more a time of stress than relaxation and kindness," was all Deeks offered her, before turning to one of the shops offering loads of sweet stuff, perfect to distract Kensi. And before she could say anything he had pulled her easily along and into her personal wonderland full of sugar in different states of workmanship.

"Ah, I know that look on your face, but please don´t do it …." Deeks watched Kensi carefully, knowing her look pretty well, just hoping that she would snap out of that dream world sooner than later, cause otherwise he would be carrying half a dozen of bags filled to the rim with sweets for the next few days. He was waving a hand in front of her face, trying to get her attention and because he had really thought her being far away, he didn´t pay that much attention to her reactions and so she caught his hand easily and turned his arm and his hand on his back, making him squirm under her grip.

"Please. Kensi. It´s Christmas, so would you please let your partner go? And I think I will need both of my hands, if you want me to carry all your bags," he managed between gritted teeth, but also nearly laughing, cause he had read her thoughts so well.

"Oh, it´s Christmas? That must have slipped my mind with all the decorations and Christmas music," Kensi replied with a tinge of sarcasm in her voice, letting him go and pat his back. And with that she turned around, grabbed a bag and started to throw largely amounts of sweets in it, handing it to Deeks and waiting for him to pay, which he happily did.

Both hands heavy with bags, they were standing at the agreed meeting point waiting for Kensi´s mom, so that they could finally made their way to the gate and get on the plane to Reno. So when Julia showed up, she just looked at Deeks´ carrying all those bags and flashed her daughter a warning look not to overact it – both with Deeks´ kindness and with the sweets. Kensi just huffed frustrated and marched on to their designated gate, happy to see that it was already open.

With Julia´s help Deeks could get his ticket out of his back pocket, grabbed the bags again and followed her and her daughter in the plane, humming happily under his breath and flashing smiles at all the female flight attendants, earning smiles and some giggles from them.

Reaching his seat, he found Kensi already in the window seat and Julia in the outer seat, which meant that he, the one with the longest legs, had to sit in the middle seat. Julia excused herself with mentioning her need to get to the restroom more often and Kensi just raised an eyebrow, asking without words, what he wanted. But he just put the bags away, got himself a tiny pillow from one of the flight attendant, flashing another bright smile and then snuggled up on Kensi´s shoulder, which she was about to complain about, but then she decided against it thinking how he had carried all her stuff and hadn´t complained about it at any point, besides Deeks was right, it was after all Christmas.

The flight would just take something like 1.5 hours, but still Deeks managed to fall asleep on Kensi´s shoulder immediately after the plane had taken off and now he was snoring ever so slightly in her ear, his breath tingling down her neck which made it absolutely impossible for her to calm down or relax. And so she was really relieved when the plane touched down and they were allowed to leave and head for their luggage.

And now it showed that Kensi`s mom had been the smartest of all of them, already wearing her warm jacket, cause it was definitely colder here than in Los Angeles just around 32 degrees fahrenheit and therefore both Deeks and Kensi couldn´t wait for their luggage to arrive and put on a jumper and a jacket. Julia just smiled at them and closed her jacket firmly before leaving the airport to find a rental car, so that they could make it up to Lake Tahoe and their cabin which Deeks had rented for them for the next 5 days.

Kensi was about to get in the passenger seat of the rented SUV, when Deeks shot her a sharp look.

"Seriously? Are you going to let your mom drive in the back? Kensi ….., " Deeks pushed her slightly aside and held the door open for Julia, who stepped in the car with a thankful smile and winked at her daughter, which Kensi responded to with another rolling of her eyes, while she climbed in the back seat, behind Deeks.

The drive up to the cabin would take them around an hour with the traffic and snow here and there, which none of them was really used to and even though Deeks was talking to Julia about all the things he had planned for them, Kensi realized that he was paying lots more attention to the road than he would usually do in Los Angeles, where both knew nearly every road, street or alley. During the ride Kensi got more and more relaxed, leaning forwards and resting her arms on the back of Deeks seat, looking over his shoulder and enjoying the view of snow-covered mountains in the distance and a bright and clear blue sky in front of them. Deeks could see her face from the corner of his eyes and he was well aware of her relaxed features and the tiny smile creeping up at the corners of her mouth. She was beautiful and he realized that he hadn´t seen her like this in months, maybe even years and he felt just a tiny bit proud for being the reason behind this relaxed Kensi.

Which none of them realized was Julia paying attention to these short glances and smiles, neither Kensi nor Deeks even sensed while exchanging them. Julia turned her face to her window and smiled to herself, feeling happy for Kensi and Deeks but also worried, because both obviously struggled to admit their feelings and she knew with Kensi it was partly her fault. So she made a mental note, willing to try her best to get Kensi and Deeks closer together and maybe even to admit some of their feelings during the upcoming days at the Lake Tahoe Resort.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So, here comes chapter 2 and I have to say that I was really thrilled about the nice reviews and also all the followers and favs. :) Thank you. I hope you´re enjoying this chapter as much as the first one and I´m really looking forward to your reviews and messages - cause those are like applaus for us writers ;)  
I´m also always open for any kind of suggestions or ideas for the story, so feel welcome to submit them to my inbox. **

**Blessings  
Soulia**

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I still don´t own any of the NCIS Los Angeles Characters or stories, but it´s fun to spend some time with the characters especially during Christmas time :) **

* * *

**Let´s get down to the Christmas Spirit **

They made their way up to the Hotel where Deeks had rented the cottage, he checked all of them in and so in no time he opened the door of the cottage for Julia and Kensi, letting them enter first and grabbing their luggage to bring it inside. Julia and Kensi looked around with mild surprise at the really lovely looking rooms and how beautiful everything has been decorated for Christmas, there was even a small Christmas Tree in one corner of the main room, a proper tree not like at OPS where they had the palm tree decorated with too many bright lights. Julia reached for her daughters hand and squeezed it briefly, knowing that Kensi couldn´t really remember the last proper Christmas with her family.

"Uhh, could someone …. Don´t worry, I´ve got this …. ", and with that there was a loud bang coming from the stairs, on which Deeks was standing looking slightly surprised by quite a number of spilled PJs, the fluffy type and obviously not Julia´s.

"Wow Kensi, that is a nice assortment of PJs. You remember that we stay just for 5 days?" he smiled at Kensi, rubbing the back of his head lightly, waiting for Kensi to say something. But she just stood there next to her Mum, mouth ajar and looking at Deeks.

"I just …. ", he knelt down, started putting those PJs back in her bag, when Kensi came rushing up those stairs and grabbed them out of his hand, a nice red colour on her cheeks and her gaze fixed on her stuff.

"Don´t you dare …. ", was all Kensi could muster to say while packing her things again and stuffing them in her bag as fast as she could, brushing past Deeks and entering one of the upstairs bedrooms, leaving Deeks and Julia to themselves.

"Wow, that was awkward, even for your daughter", Deeks mumbled more to himself and then looking at Julia for an answer. "Who needs 5 PJs whilst on a 5 days holiday?"

Julia just laughed under her breath before looking at Deeks, her head slightly tilted to one side and one eyebrow raised at him, just as Kensi would do if he´d asked a really stupid question. And to Deeks´ surprise Julia left him with that, getting her bag and choosing the second of the bedrooms, shutting the door behind her.

"Alright, maybe I should rethink this whole idea about spending Christmas with two female Blye´s as my company", he spoke aloud while trying to figure out what just had happened, but he couldn´t really made any reason of it, so he grabbed his bag as well and entered the last remaining empty bedroom, where he sat down on the bed for a moment and just took a deep breath.

Who would have thought that in the room next to him the picture was nearly the same, with a little difference that the person had her face in her hands and was huffing and puffing because of her reaction just minutes ago. "That was embarrassing, Kensi … really embarrassing." And now she was talking to herself as well – congratulations for being silly. She sat up straight, took a deep breath and started to unpack her things and put them in the drawers, before she had a closer look around the room and out of the window, overlooking the lake and a great part of a beautiful looking forest. Deeks had really found a nice spot up at Lake Tahoe and with this appeasing view her thoughts cleared as well and she could nearly forget what happened on the stairs.

After one final look out the window she turned around, found her toiletries and made it to the bathroom door, opening it and being greeted be the view of Deeks bottom while he was putting his clothes in the drawer. She closed the door quickly but without a sound, leaning against it and tried to calm her heart rate down, cause for no reason her heart had sped up at that unintentional view.

"As if you haven´t seen his back before Kensi, don´t be silly", she said to herself again, quiet so that Deeks wouldn´t hear her, but at the same time strong enough for her to be aware of the absurdity of those words and her reactions.

After a moment she realized that there was another door in her room on the opposite side, which was ajar and she could glimpse a sink and a shower, so she made it to her bathroom and put her things away, the picture of Deeks´ back still at the front of her head and a tiny smile creeping up at the corner of her mouth. Somehow it felt good knowing that Deeks was just next door, doing exactly the same things that she´s been doing a moment ago and that everything was nearly like at home, where he was always there for her if she needed him. And if she was honest with herself she liked the idea of spending the next days up here with him so close – maybe too close? She didn't let her thoughts go down that path, but she couldn´t help wondering how it would be to spend more holidays with her partner …..

After all Kensi and Deeks had finished unpacking their stuff, they both made it back downstairs to the living room, enjoying the view through the glass front, a balcony in front of it, over the rest of the resort, with nice looking cottages here and there among the trees and the slightly bigger main building where the hotel rooms were suited. Deeks cleared his throat and looked first at Kensi and then upwards. "Do you think Julia is okay? Should we check on her?" he was not sure what to make of it, that she hasn´t come back downstairs by now.

"No, she´s alright. I talked to her before I came down and she said something about a short nap before the evening festivities and not being as young as we are", with that Kensi rolled her eyes again, smiling a little, cause she knew her Mum was absolutely fit and wouldn´t really need a nap, but like Kensi herself you better didn´t try to argue with Julia.

"So, what have you planned for the first day and the Christmas Eve?" Kensi turned to Deeks, her hands in her back pockets and nearly unable to hide her raising agitation, while thinking about the upcoming evening.

Deeks smiled at her, aware of her excitement, but not wanting to push her on that. So he scratched the back of his head again, trying to play it down, that he had everything for this day planned nearly to the minute. "Yeah, about tonight. I hope you brought something nice …. Like maybe a dress? I reserved a table in the restaurant and we will have a nice 5 course meal with your Mum at 8, hope that´s okay with you?" looking inquiring at Kensi, cause he really had no idea what she would like to do on Christmas Eve. But to his surprise, Kensi just smiled and nodded at Deeks , averting her gaze after a moment, but he was pretty sure he had seen a tiny bit of shiny eyes.

"You okay?" he asked after a moment with no word from Kensi and she was obviously struggling with something that she couldn´t put into words right now. He made a step towards her, placing a hand on her upper arm and looking at her, waiting for any kind of reaction. After what felt like ten minutes, Kensi finally looked up at Deeks again, a bit surprised by the concern on his face, but after all he was her partner and knew her so much better than anyone else.

"Yeah, I´m fine …. " after realizing she had used the wrong word, she corrected "I´m okay. It´s just that all this … "she gestured to the tree, the snow outside and all the decoration "is more than I had expected from this trip. Thank you."

She wasn´t sure who was more surprised by her words, Deeks or her, but he covered it quite well, laughing gently with so much joy in his blue eyes, that Kensi wasn´t sure what to made of that. But he helped her out, by offering some more plans, that he had made for today.

"Good, than you maybe won´t be too upset about me ordering some partner massages before the evening events. I had planned a beauty treatment for your Mum, but I guess I´ll have to cancel that", but the moment he said those words, Julia came bustling down the stairs in a happy mood and smiling brightly at Deeks once again. Kensi really had to talk to her Mum about her behaviour around Deeks, but now wasn´t the right time and place to do so.

"Oh no, don´t. I´m feeling much better and a beauty treatment sounds perfect, thank you for booking that for me Marty, you are such a considerate man. I will meet you later than? When is our reservation for dinner?" Julia asked, after patting Deeks quickly on his shoulder and looking really happy and content with this decision.

"Diner starts at 8, so if we meet back here at 7:30 the latest? Then we can make it to the restaurant together?" he asked carefully, but Julia just smiled again and nodded her agreement, before grabbing her jacket and heading to the door. "See you later and enjoy your massage." And with that Julia was gone and left two slightly startled people in the living room.

"Wow, she is in a really good mood since we hit the road to get to Reno. Something I should know?" Deeks looked at Kensi, waiting for an explanation from her, but she looked as stunned as Deeks and had to shake her head to get out of her numbness about her Mum´s happiness and cheerfulness.

"Don´t ask me. I just met my Mum properly again not that long ago, and I haven´t really made it to the part where I understand everything about her and I´m not sure if I ever will." And with that Kensi turned around, grabbed her jacket as well and looked back at Deeks.

"You coming? I think it requires two people for a partner massage, doesn´t it?" she winked at him, even though just a minute ago she has been a bit annoyed by her Mum just rushing out and leaving her with Deeks once again, but she had set herself a goal for tonight – be happy and enjoy whatever comes along, Kensi.

Getting in his jacket, Deeks made it to the door and held it open for Kensi, who looked much happier than moments ago and he hoped that that was a good sign for the afternoon and evening coming up.

They made it up to the main building, enjoying some snow under their feet and at the reception Deeks managed everything, so they could go through to the spa area, where they were greeted by two employees of the resort who would be performing the partner massage. Kensi and Deeks were separated, so that they could get undressed and slip a bathing robe on, before entering the room with two massage table prepared for them. The room was lit only by quite a number of candles and a soft light from above, the smell of cinnamon and something typical for Christmas in the air, Kensi couldn´t really name it, but she liked it. When her gaze met Deeks, she saw the same feeling in his eyes, even though they were both wearing not much more than the bathing robes, they both were happy and she tried to hide her huge grin. The therapists explained how they should lay down and they both had to let go of the bathing robe, which left Deeks with just his briefs and Kensi in just a slip, but they were both settled on the table in a moment.

"Hope you enjoy it, princess", mumbled Deeks, before properly laying down and closing his eyes, to enjoy an hour of being massaged and relaxing completely after they had a few really exhausting days behind them.

Kensi just mumbled something Deeks couldn´t really understand, but he was sure he heard a shut up somewhere in there, which made him chuckle for a moment, but then he really let go of everything and shrugged off all the stress from the last weeks and months and enjoyed being worked from toe to neck by professionals, nearly falling asleep at some point. Just Kensi´s quiet moaning at some points kept him more awake then he would admit it was just a too nice sound escaping her lips, every time her therapist hit a certain part of her body. He would have loved to know that spot, but being trapped in the hole he had no chance to catch a glimpse. But he promised to himself, that he would find that spot at some point during their trip.

An hour later the thing was over and the therapists left them alone in the room, telling them to take their time getting up and changed. So Deeks slowly sat up, wrapping one of the towels around his waist and looked over to where Kensi was still laying on her table nearly without any sign of movement, just her even breathing a sign of her being alive. He thought about going over to her and talking to her, but he decided to give her some time to digest whatever was on her mind and concerned her.

Silently he got up and left the room to enter his changing area and get changed, which took him just a few minutes and then he left for the bar, where he ordered a simple coke, not wanting to be the slightest bit drunk by the time Kensi emerged from the Spa area and later for the dinner with her Mum. He just sat there, thought about the rest of the team and sent a short message to Nell, asking her how the time at the hospital has been with Eric, immediately getting a reply from her with a pic attached of her, Eric and a bunch of kids with bright smiles on their faces. Nell just stated that the time has been absolutely worth the costume and that she would tell him and Kensi all about it as soon as they would all be back in OPS in a few days' time. Deeks just laughed to himself about Eric being so eager to join Nell on that kind of operation, but in the end he had to admit, that he would have done the same if Kensi had asked him.

"So much for the power of women", Deeks muttered to himself before taking another sip of his coke, when suddenly someone tapped him on his back. He was half expecting Kensi, but was surprised to see Julia with a happy face and a nice discreet Makeup. She settled on the chair next to him and ordered a coffee, before turning fully to Deeks and looking him up and down.

"Where is Kensi? I thought you had a partner massage together?" she inquired with a raised eyebrow, sipping her coffee slowly and with some pleasure.

"Uhm, I hope she is still in there somewhere, I left her after the massage, cause she seemed a bit unsettled and I was sure she needed some alone time", saying it aloud it occurred to him, that Kensi might have needed him by her side, but for once he was unsecure when it came to Kensi and her feelings.

Julia just stirred her coffee and took a deep breath, before addressing Deeks with her next words. "You know, that my daughter trusts you more than any other person, including me, right?" Just waiting for a confirmation from Deeks, she looked straight at him, getting his tiny nod and so she went on. "You should always trust yourself when you´re around her, cause she has never opened up to anyone like she has with you and for some reason you seem to have the perfect combination of teasing and pushing her but also being her shoulder to lean on if she needs it and because of that, don´t question why you left her. Be sure, that it was the right thing and that Kensi will come to you as soon as she is ready and has sorted her thoughts out. I know that much about her and I trust my feeling with this as well as I trust you to be there for her." And with that Julia put her hand on Deeks arm, cause she could see him questioning his own actions when it comes to Kensi.

"Shall I leave the two of you alone for a bit longer?" came Kensis voice suddenly from behind and Deeks felt caught, even though he hadn´t done anything, but still sitting here with Kensi`s Mum and talking about her felt somehow weird.

"No, please join us. Can I order something for you, my dear?" Julia flashed Kensi an honest smile and pulled her next to her, patting her leg and looking her up and down. "You look good, was the massage nice?" she asked her, sipping some of her coffee again, after Kensi had got herself a coffee as well.

"Thank you Mum, it was great and I hadn´t been aware of how much I´d needed this", she looked past her Mum and flashed Deeks a thankful smile which he just answered with one of his smiles that told her so much more than any words could do. And they also said so much more with all their glances than they had ever discussed before, which made her feel a bit unsettled at some points. Her Mum saw these silent exchanges once again and felt more assured in her goal to get these two to open up to each other.

* * *

**A/N: Can´t wait for your thoughts and ideas. Next chapter will be up by the end of the week. Have a nice week :) **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey everyone, thank you so much for all the followers and favs and also reviews, so thrilled to hear from all of you. Please review if you´ve got some time and have thoughts about the story and maybe even suggestions for chapters to come. :) Just to let you know, it might take me longer than expected, cause Kensi, Deeks and Julia have quite a lot to say and there are so many thoughts jumbling around in my head for them, so please be patient with me and enjoy your holidays as well :D **

**Blessings  
Soulia ;) **

**PS: Anyone watched the Christmas episode of season 6? If you have, feel free to send me a message ;)**

**Disclaimer: I still don´t own anything, but the time with Kensi, Deeks and Julia are fun to spend time with, thank you for sharing. **

* * *

**Christmas Eve and special gifts for special people**

Christmas Eve and special gifts for special people

They spent some more time at the bar, talking about things they wanted to do the following days, where to go and how much snowboarding they were feeling up to. Julia settled for saying that she would be absolutely fine with a bit of skiing as for her not knowing anything at all about snowboarding and Deeks and Kensi made plans for having a go on one of the more advanced slopes. So when the time came, they all made it back to their cottage, with each one entering their own rooms and sorting through clothes to wear for the evening, Christmas Eve.

For Deeks it was all pretty easy with just one proper black suit in his wardrobe and a dark grey shirt, no tie and black shoes as well, so he was the first who emerged after a quick shower and a few minutes of getting dressed and arranging his bed-style hair for the evening, got downstairs and sat down on the couch to wait for Kensi and Julia. When nothing happened for quite some time, but he could hear the two rummaging around in their rooms, he got up again, went into the kitchen and got three glasses and a Prosecco out and opened the bottle. But he waited to fill the glasses till Kensi and Julia would be ready.

A few minutes later, there was still some time left to make it in time to the dinner reservation, he heard footsteps coming down the stairs and so he filled the glasses with Prosecco, carrying two back to the living room, to give them to the two women.

"A bit more time and I would´ve come upstairs to see if I could help the two of …., " he stopped right there, two glasses in his hands, midsentence, his gaze fixed on Kensi who just made her way down the last few steps in the most amazing dress ever. Actually, she was not really wearing a dress, but some really wide, flowing pants in a dark blue combined with a sleeveless top in a brighter blue, that emphasized her dark skin and her beautiful mismatched eyes and her feet were decorated with some pretty high black high heels. Deeks had to take a deep breath while looking her up and down and was thankful for Julia being still upstairs somewhere.

Kensi looked at Deeks and felt a bit unsecure, not really knowing for once what Deeks was thinking, but he helped her with that, when he finally found his voice again.

"Wow! You look …. Uhm …. That looks really amazing … I mean you´re …. ," he took another deep breath and looked directly at her, locking eyes with her, "You look beautiful."

Slowly Kensi averted her gaze, not able to hide her slightly blushing at Deeks words and made her way over to him and reaching for one of the glasses, he was still holding in his hands. Without waiting for her mom or Deeks, she took a huge gulp and closed her eyes for a moment, before feeling able to turn to Deeks again. But before she could say anything her mom came down the stairs and so they both were saved from delving further into that topic.

Deeks, a gentleman through and through as Kensi realised a bit startled, besides all his humour and teasing abilities, went over to Julia, who was wearing a beautiful, even though plain, dark green dress and just some discreet jewellery, and held his arm out so she could place her hand on his arm. Deeks smiled at her warmly and whispering something in her ear, which Kensi couldn´t hear, but made her mom blush as well. When Deeks looked at Kensi again, he saw the questioning look on her face and just winked at her, what made her even more curious what Deeks had said to her mom, earning this reaction. She wasn´t even sure, if she felt just a tiny bit jealous of her mom, but she shook that thought of and gave her mom a warm hug, telling her how good she looked. Julia gave a short laugh and rolled her eyes in a good mood, pointing up and down Deeks and Kensi.

"Did you two have a look in the mirror? You look like you escaped some shooting for the next fashion magazine, so stop complimenting me and just enjoy a glass of Prosecco with me", and with that she took the glass out of Deeks hand, waited for him to get the third and raised it to clink glasses. "To an evening with two of my favourite people and Christmas Eve. Thank you Marty for convincing my sometimes stubborn daughter to join you for Christmas at Lake Tahoe."

Kensi and Deeks just shared another glance before sipping some of their Prosecco. By the time they all had finished their glasses, Deeks put them in the kitchen again, waited for the women to put on some jackets and then held his arms out, for both of them to grab and so they made their way over to the restaurant.

The dinner was perfect, they shared a table with an older couple from New York and had a lot of fun through the evening, exchanging stories about their cities and listening to the couple, when they told them how lucky Julia should be to spent Christmas with her daughter and son-in-law, which nearly made Kensi choke on her food. But as always Deeks was there to rescue her, patting her carefully on her back and gave her a glass of water to drink, but not interfering with the statement the couple had just made and Julia kept silent as well about the fact, just nodding in response and smiling.

When dessert was about to be served, they all felt already absolutely content and none of them – even the always hungry Kensi – didn´t know where to put the crème brûlée, but none of them left it untouched cause it just looked and smelled way too good to be left over. So they all took their time to relish the crème, before leaning back in their chairs and looking more than pleased with the evening and the company they had. In the end they had another Prosecco with their joining couple, wished them a great rest of the evening an made it over to the festive looking ballroom, where they could dance if they wanted to, but also grab a drink and just watch the other guests.

Julia was standing at the nicely decorated bar for no more than 5 minutes before a friendly looking guy came over and offered her his arm to join him for a dance, which she happily accepted, leaving Kensi and Deeks behind, both with wide grins on their faces.

"You´re mom really knows how to catch the attention of a guy, wonder if you will ever get there", Deeks teased her a bit, easing his words with an honest smile, but non the less, Kensi felt affected by his words, so when the opportunity came, she flashed another guy one of her beautiful smiles and gladly accepted his offered arm, when he made it over to them. Deeks was left speechless, ordered another drink and nearly downed it in one gulp, his eyes fixed on Kensi and the guy, who had the bravery to take his Kensi away from him. His Kensi? Yes, his Kensi and he would get her back and hold her in his arms, where she belonged. He wasn´t even sure where all these thoughts came from, but in the end it was exactly what he felt while watching Kensi in the arms of another man.

Kensi tried to stay focused while in the arms of a total stranger, dancing in a beautiful ballroom and having her mom somewhere close, but all she could think of, were Deeks words and how they had affected her. She looked to where Deeks has been standing just moments ago and now someone else was having a drink, feeling even more out of balance and uncomfortable, cause for some reason she feels better with Deeks around having her back, even in a place like this and at a time like this. To be honest she felt alone without him there. So much for her being all independent and strong, but Deeks had fought his way close to her and made it so easy to be with him and rely on him. What that said about her, she wasn´t in the mood to think about that right now.

Her mom had seen Deeks slip out of the Ballroom a few moments ago, with a face that she wasn´t really sure what to make of it, so when Kensi shot her a questioning look, she shrugged and mouthed toilette to her daughter. Kensi relaxed a bit and felt stupid for not thinking about that possibility, but still, she was sure that something wasn´t alright. But her dancing partner kept on talking to her and so she tried to keep focus and make small talk with him, cause in the end, she has been the one to encourage him to dance with her.

After what felt like ages, Kensi felt a tap on her shoulder and she was startled by the touch, even though she instantly knew, that it was Deeks hand on her shoulder and judging by the reaction her dance partner showed, Deeks` face must have shown his intentions quite clearly. So next thing Kensi knew, she felt Deeks´ arm around her waist and his hand holding hers and moving her over the dance floor in way that she honestly hadn´t expected him to be capable of, remembering their attempt to waltz in the gym under Hetty´s eyes.

"Wow, that was really cave man like!" Kensi mouthed, just feeling Deeks´ arm holding her even tighter than before, his mouth next to her ear he whispered "You don´t wanna see me all cave man like, believe me" and for some reason, this absolutely untypical declaration from Deeks made her shiver, but for all good reasons, which left her uncomfortable again. But Deeks loosened his grip on her a bit, leaning back a tiny bit and directing his baby blues at her with an adorable smile on his face, which she deep down hoped there would never be another girl or woman for Deeks to give this perfect smile to.

"You trust me?" he offered after another dance and some shared smiles and a lot of body contact, Kensi wasn´t sure if she was okay with, because it seemed that she was the only one affected by it. But when she looked at Deeks frowning, his eyes showed her more then he probably knew, that he was affected by all this as well.

"Yes!" was all Kensi said, before Deeks dropped his arm, but held on to her hand and dragged her carefully with him, leaving the ball room to get her jacket and leave the main building.

"Where are we going? What about my mom?"

"I thought you trust me? And don´t worry about your mom, she is going to be alright with that nice gentleman for a while."

"I do, but what …. Deeks!" she tried again, putting some emphasis on his name, but getting no reaction at all. So when they walked back up to their cottage she really didn´t know what to think and just let Deeks lead her up to the door.

"Close your eyes", Deeks asked her softly, stepping behind her and putting his hands on her waist to direct her, after she had closed her eyes and had put her hands on top of his, showing him how much she trusted him to not let her bump into anything at all. He managed to open the door quickly with one hand, put it back where it was before and gently nudged her to walk forwards and into the living room.

"Keep your eyes closed and stay where you are!" Deeks instructed her, taking her jacket off of her and hurrying into the kitchen, where she could hear him opening and closing the fridge, before coming back to her and leading her now with just one hand.

"What are you doing Deeks? Why did we have to leave the party?" she inquired without much effort, cause she somehow liked the idea of being alone with Deeks on Christmas Eve.

"Just a second and you will know," he offered, while helping her to sit down in a comfortable chair and placing something in front of her.

"Oh no, I forgot to get you anything Deeks, I´m so sorry …." she suddenly had realized that it was Christmas Eve after all and he was probably about to give her his present and she sat there empty handed in front of the person who had paid for all this so far and also organised everything. She felt a bit ashamed and let her head dropped to her chest, her eyes still closed.

She could hear him chuckled somewhere in front of her and she raised her head again, waiting for his OK to open her eyes and when it finally came, she wasn´t prepared for the view. Deeks sat opposite of her, a small round table between them lit with a few candles, two glasses of champagne and – to top everything else – in front of her, there was a plate with her favourite Muffin on it.

"Deeks …" was all Kensi could say, looking up at him and feeling absolutely speechless – once again – by the actions from Deeks, cause even after nearly 3 years of working together, he was still the one who managed to surprise her more often than anyone else ever could.

"Yeah, that is actually my name, Kensi" he mocked her slightly, but his eyes showed her, that he was unsure if it was too much or if she really had wanted to stay at the party.

"Thank you." While saying those two so small words out loud, she reached for his hand and squeezed it, Deeks turning his hand so he could hold on to her for a moment and enjoy that she´s been the one to reach for his hand, establish physical contact in such a direct way.

"I wasn´t sure, if the 5 course meal would be enough for the ever so hungry Kensi," he teased her again, trying to hide his insecurity, about how she would react to all this cosy and romantic stuff on Christmas Eve.

Kensi rolled her eyes, smiling at the same time, cause she knew, that he must´ve really thought this through, with even a nice warm fire burning in the fireplace, the wood cracking and sizzling from time to time. And now it made sense to her, why Deeks had left the ball room for some time, before returning to get her out of the hands of that poor guy.

"When you left the ball room ….," she started, but he interrupted her, gesturing to the muffin. "You wanna leave the muffin for tomorrow?" reaching for the muffin he didn´t look at Kensi and so he couldn´t react, when she hit him on the back of his hand reaching for the Muffin.

"Don´t try me Deeks. You know how I am with food," she teased back, took the muffin carefully in her hand and bit into it, her eyes closed anticipating the perfect taste of it. A soft moan escaped her lips and Deeks just stared at Kensi, relish the view of Kensi enjoying her muffin. There was not much that made him happier than watching his partner delve into her slight muffin addiction.

Giving Kensi another moment, he started filling their glasses and held one out for Kensi to grab and while they clinked glasses again, he kept his eyes focused on hers all the time, drinking some champagne and feeling happier than he had in quite a while. Remembering her statement from earlier, he grinned mischievously at her.

"And don´t worry about the present, you can pay me off by presenting one of your PJs every night for the next 5 days to me, you know the joining door in our rooms, through which you caught a glimpse of my bottom earlier today?" He couldn´t help himself, he had to let her know that he had seen her, or better heard her closing the door.

Her face changed instantly and he enjoyed every second of it. But Kensi was fast and she had reached for one of her shoes, raising it above the table with a murderous look on her face. "No, no … don´t! Kensi? Kensi!" Deeks said in pleading voice, knowing that he had lost anyway.

Slowly she lowered her shoe, but didn´t put it back on and with her naked foot she reached for Deeks leg and run her foot up his shine, enjoying his reaction maybe even more.

"Kensi, what ….. the …. What are you ….!" but before he could finish that sentence or sort his thoughts, Julia opened the front door and came bustling in, giggling about something. Both Kensi and Deeks turned to Julia, who was still standing in the front door, obviously saying Good Night to someone, before turning around and waving at the two. Kensi had dropped her foot at the sound of the front door and nibbled at her Muffin, while Deeks had more problems to hide the confusion.

"Julia, are you okay?" he asked carefully, not really trusting his voice after Kensi´s foot attack mere seconds ago.

"Ah, sorry. I´m absolutely okay, feeling great … maybe a bit drunk?" she offered as an excuse for all the giggles and entering without a warning. "I think I´m going straight to bed. Have a wonderful rest of the evening and I will see you tomorrow morning, maybe with some presents," and with that she winked at them, blowing a kiss in Kensi´s and Deeks´ direction, before heading up the steps and disappearing in her room.

"That was …. awkward," Deeks said nearly unable to stop himself from saying embarrassing, knowing that Kensi would have been hurt and not really meaning that either.

"Yeah, I would say my mom has perfect timing", Kensi just smiled, emptied her glass and got up, beating Deeks to it so he couldn´t help her with the chair like when they had sat down together. "I think I will get in my bed as well, it was a long but really nice day. Thank you for arranging all this for my mom and me. Oh, and thank you for the muffin," she passed by Deeks patting him honestly on the shoulder and giving him an open smile, that showed him how thankful she really was for everything.

"Okay, have a good night and I will see you tomorrow, Fern," and there was his teasing again, but Kensi knew him well enough, knowing that this was his way of not showing how uncomfortable he was with her saying thank you. She just nodded at his words and made her way up the stairs and into her bedroom, putting the muffin with a smile on her nightstand, changing into one of her PJs and climbing in her bed.

Deeks remained at the tiny table for a moment, replaying the evening in his head and smiling all the time, cause he was sure the whole think had been a huge success so far, even though Julia had interrupted an interesting situation by entering, but he hoped for a repeat.

So just a few minutes later, Kensi could hear Deeks coming up the stairs as well and heard his door close behind him. She listened carefully, trying to make out the sounds of him getting out of his suit, shoes and shirt, before getting into his PJs. But she couldn´t make out the sound of him, getting into his bed, so after another moment, she got out of her bed, tiptoeing over to the joining door and put her ear to the door, listening for any sounds. There was no sound for her to make out, so she knocked gentle at the door, not wanting to wake him up, and waited for his voice to call her in.

"Come in", Deeks said in a low voice, looking at the door from where he was sitting on the small couch in his room just reasoning if he should watch a movie or not before going to bed.

"Hey …." Kensi closed the door behind her and slowly made her way into his room, her arms crossed over her chest, not really sure why she had knocked on his door. But when he silently padded on the couch next to him, she just sat down, her feet under her and looking at Deeks. "So, what are we watching?" she wrapped her arms around her legs, cause in the bedrooms without the fire it was definitely colder than downstairs.

Without a word Deeks got up again, grabbed a blanket and draped it over Kensi´s legs and arms, before sitting back down, one arm on the back of the sofa not quite touching her. "Don´t know. What are you up for? A horror film or something sweeter more christmasy like?" in the dark Kensi could make out Deeks smile and huffed silently, because he just knew her too well.

"No horror tonight, no need after this day," she just offered, letting him know once again, how grateful and happy she was.

"Okay than. Elf it is," and with that Deeks eased a bit deeper in the cushions, turning the TV on and changing the channel to the right programme, dropping the remote on the tiny table and flashing Kensi another huge Deeks grin.

She managed to sit a tiny distance away from Deeks for nearly 5 minutes, deciding that his was really silly and finally snuggling up in his arm and spreading the blanket over his legs as well. He smiled to himself and allowed himself to play with Kensi´s soft hair while watching the film with her, she stayed absolutely still all through the movie, just adjusting her position from time to time and by the end of the film, she was sound asleep on his chest, her typical tiny snorts clearly audible. Gently he freed himself from her arms, lifted her off the couch easily and brought her over in her bed. Cause he knew that Kensi would otherwise be most definitely pissed at him tomorrow morning for taking advantage of her being so tired.

Before getting back into his room and his bed, he leaned over Kensi and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead, inhaling her scent for a second. His perfect, strong and never really relaxed Kensi looked much younger in her sleep and much more vulnerable as well, but he would always protect her, whatever came their way. 

"Good night Kensilina, sweet dreams," he murmured and finally got into his bed and fell asleep in an instant.

* * *

**Please leave a review if you feel like it, would mean a lot to me :) **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: So, here is the next chapter for you as my christmas present, the next is kind of halfway done. Please be patient, cause with these days coming up now, I won´t be able to write as much as I would love to, but I can tell you, that the whole story is going to be longer than expected so there is lots more of sweet fun stuff to come. In this chapter I put on a little idea that _guesswhofern_ mentioned in one of her reviews and I hope she and all of you as well enjoy it :) As always, all mistakes are mine. **

**For everyone celebrating Christmas - I wish you a merry christmas and happy holidays. **

**Blessings  
Soulia**

**Disclaimer: I don´t own anything of NCIS LA or the characters, but once again it was fun playing with them. Thank you :) **

* * *

**And then there is the black diamond ski slope**

Waking up Deeks knew instantly that this was the morning of Christmas day, the day he was going to spend with Kensi and her mom, having the best time of their lives up on the hills and a snowboard tucked to their feet. Thinking about Kensi all wrapped up and standing on the snowboard made him chuckle a bit, cause he was absolutely sure that Kensi would feel slightly out of her comfort zone even with her pretending of being a black diamond shaped snowboarder. For some reason he couldn´t really see her on a snowboard in the snow and cold. But maybe she had another surprise ready for him, she had surprised him a few times in their time as partners, so with Kensi you could never tell.

By the time he had gotten out of his bed, put on some comfortable pants and a hoodie, the colour Kensi loved on him, and finally made his way down to the living room, he was surprised to see the table set for three and everything you could wish for on Christmas morning was there as well. He looked around for Kensi and her mom, but couldn´t see either one of the women and so he just went to the kitchen to get some fresh coffee ready. He was slightly smiling all the time for no obvious reason while preparing the coffee, it just felt so good to be on a short but well deserved holiday and having Kensi close by, he even started to whistle in a low way without knowing the melody. So by the time the front door opened and Kensi came in in her running gear, he turned to her with that happy smile on his lips and held a cup out to her.

"Hey there early riser. Did you make it around the whole lake?" he teased her a bit, knowing she wasn´t the best runner.

"Once? Not everyone is sleeping in as long as you Deeks. I made it around the lake twice, met some reindeers and saw Santa take off after he dropped off presents for a boy named Marty," she shot back, but with a softer tone than she would do back at OSP and around Callen and Sam.

Deeks chuckled under his breath and waited till she reached for the coffee pot in his hands. "Was Rudolph alright? Cause I think you scared him off last year," Deeks asked smiling and sipped some of his coffee.

"I scared Rudolph? Wasn´t it you sitting in front of his window the whole night last year and when you saw him you squeaked like a five year old kid?" she answered with a raised eyebrow, enjoying her coffee as well.

"Touché, you got me on that one. But hey, Rudolph is by far the coolest Reindeer ever and Monty loves him as well," he tried to defend his childlike joy, that showed up every year around the holiday season since he had something resembling a family to spend it with or at least some really good friends in contrast to his younger years, where there hasn´t really been any good thing about the holiday season. Kensi just rolled her eyes and finished her coffee before she placed the cup next to the sink.

"Have you seen my mom yet? Honestly I was slightly worried after last night and how she showed up back here," she asked Deeks looking around the basement.

"Nope, there hasn´t been the tiniest bit of sound from her room. Guess she had a great evening and good company after we left her," he said not feeling concerned at all with Julia being a grown up woman in the end.

Kensi excused herself upstairs to get showered and changed and turned down Deeks subtle offer to join her in the shower, by stating the obvious. Which made Deeks reach for his hoodie and starting to take it off, but Kensi raised her hands quickly and ran up the stairs shouting she was alright on her own.

Once again Deeks was on his own in the kitchen, so he got his presents ready for Kensi and her mom, cause in contrast to Kensi he hadn´t forgotten about it and was really excited to see what they would say to his presents. So he went to the living room and over to the beautiful tree, where he lit the candles and then placed his presents underneath in lack of any kind of stockings. Kensi´s was the shape of a flat rectangle and not really heavy, whereas Julia´s present was a small box and an envelope. After he had done that, he sat down at the table and waited for Kensi and her mom.

Julia was just getting up, the evening had been absolutely great and she was looking forward to see the nice guy, his name was Sean, again sometime today and to find out if they had more in common than just spending the Christmas holiday at Lake Tahoe and loving to dance. She dressed herself in some comfy clothes as well, knowing that Deeks had planned for all of them to go snowboarding today after they had their Christmas breakfast together …. Nearly like a small family would spend this time of the year and she had to admit, that she loved this holiday much more than any of the previous ones. Deeks was a nice addition and a person she just had to like and was more than willing to add to her family. He made Kensi laugh and open up in ways she had never seen before and she was so grateful for that. Her daughter needed to laugh more often and she also needed someone to crash her walls and catch her afterwards, which she knew Deeks would do.

When she came down the stairs she could see Deeks sitting at the table, his focus on the scenery outside and a soft smile on his lips.

"Good Morning Marty", she said as she came closer and sat next to him, knowing that Kensi would want to sit opposite of Deeks to be able to watch him, like she thought, discretely.

"Good Morning Julia, did you sleep well? It seemed as if you had a good evening and really nice company?" he said smiling at her, not his smile that was just for Kensi, but nevertheless it was a warm and open smile, that made Julia smile in response.

"Oh, my evening was wonderful and Sean was a great company and a great dancer with quite some stamina, I fell asleep the moment my head touched the pillow. How about you?" her look told Deeks that she was well aware she stumbled into something when she came home last night.

"That´s good to hear and thank you, my night was great as well. After you went upstairs we got into our rooms just a few minutes later as well and Kensi watched Elf with me falling asleep in the middle of it as well," he winked at Julia not able to stop himself, he just felt so good at the moment. When Julia placed her hand on his and gave him a more than knowing smile, he could feel his cheeks blush and he had to try to get out of this moment with a funny remark.

"Even though it´s still a mystery to me how Kensi´s able to sleep snoring that loud." Julia had to laugh at this and let go of his hand just a moment before Kensi came down the stairs and joined them at the table.

"Deeks, what kind of lies are you telling my mom?" she inquired, throwing Deeks an angry look before turning to her mom and shaking her head. "Don´t listen to anything he´s telling you, those are all lies. I don´t snore, no way."

Julia chuckled and this time she placed her hand on Kensi´s arm and squeezing it slightly, looking at her daughter with all the happiness she felt about being here with her right now and spending Christmas. "It´s okay Kensi, Marty was just telling me about the film you watched last night and I told him about Sean, my nice company for the evening."

Kensi huffed a tiny bit and then relaxed under her mom´s touch, looking at Deeks and rolling her eyes at him. But before any of them could say some more, Julia got up and reached under the tree to grab some of the presents and hand it to Deeks and Kensi. "These are for you and I hope I got it right."

Deeks looked at Julia with a thankful look, it´s been quite some time since his last proper Christmas morning with real presents and some kind of family around, so he tore into the paper and beat Kensi to it by just a few seconds. They both had some kind of card in their hands, which they opened and then read the lines Julia had written. Deeks felt some tears prick at his eyes and he took some deep breaths, before looking up at Julia. "Thank you Julia. This really means a lot to me", he half rose from his chair and gave her a quick hug. After that he finally looked at the smaller card placed inside the bigger one and as soon as he realized what it was, he shot Kensi a wide smile and waved at her with the card, a ticket to see Stomp in LA.

Kensi had been reading her Mum´s card in silence as well and reached for Julia´s hand to squeeze it tightly, letting her know how much she loved her. "Thanks Mom", and as she saw Deeks waving at her with some kind of ticket, she looked closer at hers and let out a sigh, softened by a huge grin, cause she had the same ticket in her card.

"Mom, that´s really kind of you, but it wouldn´t have been necessary," Kensi said to her mom but getting really excited about this event.

"Oh, I saw the advert for Stomp and had to think of Marty and I thought he couldn´t go on his own. I hope it´s okay for you Marty, that Kensi is joining you?" she looked at him with a sweet smile, knowing Deeks wouldn't say no.

"Julia, honestly it´s such a nice idea. I´m sure Kensi will love the evening in my company listening to something else than her favourite techno music," flashing Kensi a huge grin but feeling her foot connecting with his shine under the table, he tried hard to hide the pain shooting up his leg.

Julia just laughed about the two lovebirds dancing around each other in such a beautiful way, obviously not entirely aware of what they were doing.

Next up were Deeks presents for the women and he handed Kensi hers and Julia the envelope and the smaller box, both looked at the presents with childish grins and Kensi exchanged another look with Deeks, before opening the box and raising an eyebrow.

"Deeks, what …. There´s nothing in here," she looked slightly irritated by now and Julia had to chuckle again, while opening the envelope and reading the card completely written in Deeks handwriting, but she wasn´t surprised at all to see that Deeks had covered for Kensi in this matter as well. Deeks and Kensi were still bantering about the box and what it meant and by the time Kensi got it, her blushing wasn´t something Deeks or Julia could ignore, but it was just adorable, Deeks thought.

Julia cleared her throat to get the attention of Kensi and Deeks and waved with the envelope, a happy and grateful smile on her lips. "Well, this is something I hadn´t been expecting but I´m up for the challenge, Marty. And I´m sure with both of you as teachers there is a good chance that I will actually manage to accomplish something out there on the water. Thank you to both of you," she gave Deeks´ arm a light squeeze and raised her eyebrow, letting him know, that she knew about Kensi forgetting about presents at all. When Kensi was about to ask and reveal that she had no idea what Julia was talking about, Deeks just jumped in, saying what great fun they all would have together while surfing at a nice beach in LA which made Kensi nearly choke on her coffee. They all ended up laughing.

With Kensi having forgotten any presents at all they just went on enjoying their lovely breakfast, before discussing the plan for the day. They all agreed on getting ready after breakfast and walk up to the main building to get all the stuff for the snowboarding. Neither one of them had any gear, so they had to lend all the needed things.

After an hour of delving into all the nice things on the table, they got up to get everything they would need and made it over to the main building.

Just a few minutes later they were all set up with the equipment and a lift pass so they could get up the mountain and get going. Deeks was humming with excitement to get on the snowboard and in the snow. Kensi was fidgeting with her gloves and glancing around showing Deeks how nervous she was about getting on the snowboard after telling Deeks that she was more than okay with going down the slopes. But honestly it´s been quite a while since she´s been out for some practicing.

Julia just sat with them in the ski lift and looking around, taking in the beautiful view from up there and thought about her plans for Kensi and Deeks. She was confident to start with her interference today and up the hill, so she just needed a good opportunity to get it started. So by the time the made it up the mountain, Julia was so lost in her thoughts that she nearly missed the right moment to get off and just thanks to Deeks she made it without falling to her knees.

"Wow, somebody is far away with her thoughts," Deeks commented with a bright grin and letting go of Julia after she was standing safe and sound on her feet again. She had decided to go with ski instead of a snowboard, cause there was no way for her to understand how that exactly worked and she felt too old to learn it in just a few days. So she got on her ski, put on her helmet, gloves and got her poles ready, before looking up and nodding at Kensi and Deeks.

"Have fun you two and I will see you down the hill for a little après ski," and with those words she just took off and left Kensi and Deeks where they were preparing everything to get ready as well.

After they had recovered from being left behind in some way, they both got going as well, but it took them longer to get down to the cabin, cause after just a few minutes Deeks was absolutely certain, that Kensi had lied just a tiny bit about her ability to snowboard and so he ended up helping her up what felt like every five seconds and Kensi got more and more frustrated about it, with Deeks standing up on his board as confident as if he was surfing back home in LA. She nearly couldn´t stand the happy look on his face anymore, but he was so patient with her, teasing her just a tiny bit and in the end she gave in and held on to his hands, while there were going down the slope which worked pretty good. Kensi smiled to herself, cause obviously they were better with the whole partner thing than they probably expected to, Deeks holding Kensi´s hand all the way down to the cabin, where Julia was waiting for them a steaming cup of Hot Chocolate already in her hands.

"Just a bit longer and I would have called for a Search and Rescue Team to find you. What happened? Did you get lost?" Julia asked with a happy expression on her face, cause it hadn´t escaped her view that Kensi and Deeks came down the hill holding hands, for whatever reason. But she thought this was a step closer to her own goal of getting them together.

"Kensi here just needed a bit of time to get the groove back and then she wouldn´t let go of my hands, so it was quite a ride down here," Deeks said, holding up their still interlaced hands, the response from Kensi was a sweet blush and a soft puff. But if she withdrew her hand right now she would give Deeks exactly what he was waiting for. So instead, she just squeezed his fingers and shot him an over the top smile.

"My fingers are just freezing cold and for some reason, Deeks has really hot hands …. I mean, his hand is really warm," and she was blushing again, must be the Kensi-is-flushing-the-whole-time day. Instead of being annoyed about Deeks effect on her, she just let go of his hand and went to get them both a hot chocolate with a shot of some nice booze in there. She held the cup out to Deeks and the clinked cups before taking a few sips from the sweet hot stuff. They all smiled nearly at the same time and had to laugh again, like this morning at the breakfast table and Deeks felt so happy he just had to wrap an arm around Kensi´s shoulder and to his surprise not earning a punch to the shoulder or an elbow in the stomach but just a short glance from her.

After they´ve been standing on the small patio of the cabin for a while, enjoying the view and their company, Deeks was hit in the back of his head by a snowball, some kids were having a proper snowball fight just a few feet away and hadn´t paid that much attention of their surroundings. But Deeks just laughed and waved at the kids, thumbs up and told them to go on.

Kensi was just talking to her mom about the evening before and asked her about Sean, when she was hit by a snowball as well, but when she turned around to look for the kids, she couldn´t see them anymore and so her gaze landed on Deeks and as soon as she saw his mischievous grin, she knew that this ball had come from him. Her cup handed to her mom, she crouched down and got some snow as well and aimed for Deeks hitting him square in the chest.

"Yeah, you should´ve really thought about this Deeks, getting into a snowball fight with a Blye woman – not the best idea you ever had," and with that she started to throw snowball after snowball at him, getting away from the patio cause she was well aware of the other people around them. Deeks tried to hit Kensi at least one more time, but she was just too good dodging all of his snowballs. In the end, he surrendered standing between the first fir trees, which encircled the ski slopes up here, and held his hands up. Kensi stopped throwing snowballs at him and came closer and closer with her hands behind her back and a devilish grin on her lips. The moment Kensi was close enough Deeks just pulled on one of the branches of the fir tree above them and the next second Kensi was covered from head to toe in nice powdery snow and her face was the best reward Deeks could have gotten. She stood there for a split second, trying to comprehend what just happened, recovering fast she made one more step towards Deeks, raising her arms and looping them around his neck, which earned her a startled look from Deeks. Revenge was so sweet and so before Deeks could say anything or ask Kensi what was going on he had a hand of snow pushed down the back of his hoodie and was screeching like a girl.

"Kens… ahhhhhh, that´s fucking cold!" he exclaimed and tried to breath evenly but without any success, so he just grabbed Kensi and threw her in the snow placing himself on top of her and covering her hair with snow before rolling in the snow and pulling Kensi along. Of course she tried to get away, but Deeks held her tight a bright smile on his face after a few moments to recover from the snow touching his warm skin.

"Deeks! Let me go!" Kensi punched him on his chest, but he could feel that she was holding back and a few moments later a smile crept up at the corners of her mouth and in the end they were both lying in the snow laughing really hard not bothering at all with the glances from people passing by after coming down the ski slopes. Neither one of them noticed any of the glances or stares, they were just enjoying themselves and the time they were spending together.

While they were slowly trying to get untangled Julia came over her face glowing with happiness and laughter, looking down and shaking her head slightly. "Are the children done playing?" she asked and waited for them to get up. Deeks pulled Kensi up and tousling her hair to get all the snow out, he felt like snow and slowly water was running down his back and front and everywhere else and Kensi looked uncomfortable as well, shifting from one foot to the other and rubbing her clothes. But still she stood close to Deeks so she obviously wasn´t too mad at him and that made him happier than anything else.

"Thanks Mom, but yes the kids are done playing and I have to admit, that was the most fun I had in a while, but I think we should get back and changed, otherwise the rest of our short vacation will end with a nice cold for the two of us," she looked apologetic at her mom and grabbed Deeks hand once again, which surprised him probably more than her mom. Deeks was really sorry for Julia as well, but she assured the two, that Sean was on his way to meet her at the cabin and so she wouldn´t be on her own for too long. With that she waved them off and smiled to herself, cause even without her doing much they were going to spend the afternoon together and she hoped the thing with them holding hands was a good sign. Sean showed up half an hour later and they enjoyed the time together, having a nice late lunch and afterwards sat outside on the patio and talked about their lives and how lucky they were having great families and friends.

* * *

**Please leave a review, it would mean the world to me and I am happy with those as a present for me ;) **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: So, here is chapter number 5, it is kind of an in between chapter cause I had to shorten chapter 4. I also think there was so much going on that this needed a special place. The next one will be longer again and probably about the complete day number 3 - yes it is just day two over so far.  
I hope you all had lovely holidays and spent some time with your family and I wish you a good start to the next year as well.**

**As always, all mistakes are mine and I really like to read your reviews, so if you´ve got some time please do or if you´ve got an idea that you think I should put in one of the next chapters, let me know. :) **

**Disclaimer: I don´t own anything from NCIS LA, I´m just having a funtime with Kensi, Deeks and Julia. They will be returned unharmed after this story. ;) **

* * *

**An afternoon full of suprises **

Meanwhile Deeks and Kensi had made it down the last part of the mountain and were entering their cabin, both freezing a bit and they couldn´t wait to get out of their clothes fast enough. "You know, survival tip number one says, body contact helps the fastest with getting warm again," Deeks offered while pulling his hoodie over his head standing in front of Kensi with just a shirt, which he grabbed and was about to pull over his head as well in front of his room.

"Deeks, you know that I grew up as the daughter of a marine, right? I know all those tricks probably better than you do, but thanks for reminding me," and with that she took a step closer to Deeks looking into his eyes before giving him an honest hug. "Thanks for making this day so much fun already, I´m sure I haven´t been laughing this hard for ages. BUT ….. I think I will have a shower on my own," leaving Deeks speechless in the hall, entering her room and closing the door behind her with a really content smile on her lips. And while she stood there she had an idea for the afternoon and before she could have second thoughts she opened her door again, pretty sure that Deeks would still be standing there speechless and she was right.

"Deeks? Are you alright?" she looked at him and waited for any kind of response, but when nothing happened she just went on. "I just had an idea for our afternoon after the time in the cold, how about a nice time in the sauna?" she winked at him, pretty sure that he wouldn´t disappoint her. And a moment later he stood there in the hall, still holding the hem of his shirt and his jaw had dropped nearly to the floor after her statement.

"I take that as a yes and I will be downstairs in five. " And she was gone again, leaving Deeks gasping and trying to figure out if that had really happened or if he was in a shock after the cold. Thinking nothing was ever easy with Kensi he decided to just go with the flow and so he turned around, went to his room, got out of his wet clothes and put on sweat pants and another hoodie and grabbing a towel, without thinking cause there would surely be towels in the spa area of the hotel.

When Kensi came down the stairs four and a half minutes later, Deeks was pacing the living room, towel under his arm and a really strange expression on his face and Kensi enjoyed that she was the reason for all this just by making a suggestion for a nice activity. She really got her a game out and kept her face as neutral as possible while looking at Deeks, taking a deep breath and interrupting his pacing. "Are we ready to go?" was all she said before opening the front door and stepping outside with a little bounce to her step, Deeks following right behind still not sure if Kensi was making a joke or not. "This is not going to be a really bad joke, Is it? Kensi? Kens ….?" But she just shrugged her shoulders in front of him and continued her path to the main building.

An hour later, Deeks and Kensi were sitting in one of the saunas – alone to the relief of both of them – still wrapped up in their towels cause neither one of them could really relax right now and Kensi thought for the first time that this might not have been the best of her ideas. She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down while feeling Deeks next to her tense as well and breathing more pronounced then usually.

"Okay, I´m sure I´m going to regret this, but I will put my towel down now and really enjoy being in the sauna," taking another deep breath she unwrapped her towel from her body and put it down on the bench so she could lie down on her front putting her head on her hands. A moment later she could hear a low shuffling and then a soft moan of relief from Deeks, so she risked a glance and was caught a bit off guard with Deeks lying directly in front of her, facing her and smiling at her with his typical Deeks smile, after he had been so tense the last 10 minutes.

"Hey there beautiful," he said and his chin was resting on his hands and his eyes were locked with hers and she had to wonder if Deeks could find his balance again this fast with everyone or just with her. Deeks still couldn´t really believe that he was lying in a sauna naked with Kensi but he was absolutely going to enjoy every second of it. When he saw Kensi´s look he had to chuckle a bit and reached out to her slowly to tap his finger on her wet nose. "I´m really glad that you and your mom came up here with me for the holidays, it would have been really lonely with just Monty around," he admitted in a low voice, feeling he could be honest with Kensi in here, no boundaries, no clothes, no one else listening or watching them so Kensi could let her guard down a bit better.

"I´m glad you asked me and it was really nice of you to invite my mom as well," Kensi replied lowering her eyes to study the wood of the bench beneath them. "My last proper Christmas had been quite a while ago and even with having my mom back in my life it was different and we are still getting to know each other again. Do you miss your mom?" she asked before she could think about it and quickly glanced at Deeks. "I´m sorry, you don´t have to tell me about her …," she trailed off, being angry with herself for destroying this moment with this stupid question, but to her surprise Deeks took a deep breath and answered.

"Yes I do miss her, but I also don´t miss her cause I´m certain everything would start out really great but the end would be really disastrous with everyone fighting and having drunk too much and horrible food and …. you get the idea," he ended, his gaze somewhere far away, before he shook his head slightly and looking back at Kensi with a tiny real smile. She felt the need to give him some kind of reassurance so she reached out with one hand and laid it on top of one of his and leaving it there.

The time in the sauna was over soon after this bit of shared personal revelations and they both got up, wrapped up in their towels again and had a cold shower, before putting some swimming gear on and so they jumped in the heated pool and swam for a bit, Deeks obviously the better and more sustained swimmer thanks to his years of surfing. Deeks had fun diving underneath Kensi and surfacing right in front of her, huge smile on his lips and splashing some water at her, which earned him some punches to his shoulders or stomach but all this was way too much fun for him.

"Deeks, I´m going to drown you in here and I´m pretty sure you don´t want me to explain to my mom what happened. And also Hetty would be quite disappointed if I drown her favourite liaison from the LAPD," she grumbled and looked at him with a look that was somewhere between really happy and really annoyed, something only Kensi was capable of.

"Uh, so you admit that I´m Hetty´s favourite?" Deeks asked grinning brightly again and standing up in front of Kensi, displaying his nicely trained and tanned chest. Kensi had to avert her gaze, before collecting her thoughts again.

"You know, that you´re the only liaison between those two agencies, so you´re also the least favourite one, right?" Now Deeks was pouting or at least he was pretending to, cause deep down he knew that at least Kensi and Hetty wouldn´t trade him for any other liaison and he was happy with that.

"Oh, that´s alright, I know that you wouldn´t want to have any other liaison after you spend the last years with me. Every other liaison would disappoint you after my companionship," he teased her and swam away from her backwards splashing water at her once again earning another rolling of her eyes.

Finally they decided to call it a night for today and went to get changed again. By the time Kensi got out of the female changing room Deeks was already waiting for her, his hair dishevelled as usual and a bright smile on his face. "That´s been fun, thank you," he said to her.

Surprising both of them Kensi just got on her tiptoes and placed a soft kiss on his cheek before reaching for his hand, interlacing their fingers and pulling him to the exit. Deeks just kept quiet, enjoying the feeling of her hand in his and walked back to their cabin smiling all the way. Kensi didn´t say a word as well, knowing quite well the effect her actions had on Deeks and probably also the deeper meaning behind it regarding their thing.

When they arrived back at the cabin, Kensi called out for her mom, but there was no response and so she let go of Deeks hand and walked upstairs, looked through all the rooms and came down the stairs again about to utter her concern to Deeks, when he came up to her with a piece of paper in his hands, waggling it in front of her face.

"I think your mom is a sweet, sneaky matchmaker on a mission," and with that he gave the short note to Kensi, waiting for her reaction and response, which came a moment later as a loud huff. "Honestly, I can´t believe she´s really doing this," she lowered the piece of paper and shook her head. "Does she really expect us to just do as she ordered us to?" she asked Deeks. He just shrugged in response, knowing that Julia would be disappointed if they didn´t obey.

"Come on, it´s not that bad. I mean I know you´re probably starving by now and I could use some nice dinner as well, so let´s go with it," was all Deeks said, before he tugged a loose strand of hair behind Kensi´s ear, savouring the moment with Kensi staying where she was and just looking at Deeks.

"Alright, but I will get changed before we eat anything ….. ," grumbled Kensi half-heartedly and turning to get upstairs, but Deeks grabbed her hand and looked at her with a bright smile, suggesting that he had a really bad idea for Kensi´s perspective. "Spill it Deeks," Kensi pushed and earned a low laugh from Deeks.

"I was just thinking with you still owing me three more PJs we could make it a PJs dinner. I mean the note says that Julia ordered something to be eaten in the cabin," he was so happy with his idea and Kensi wasn´t really in the mood to disappoint him. Also it has been her idea with the sauna so now she could go with his plans.

"By all means if you´re happy I´m happy with it," and with that she went upstairs like Deeks and got changed. By the time they made it back downstairs Kensi was wearing a nice red and green checked PJ and some really warm and fluffy socks and Deeks had some blue PJ bottoms and a plain white shirt on. He smiled at her, feeling so content right now and he had to give this beautiful woman a hug before making their choices of food ordering the room service.

While waiting they sat down on the couch in front of the fireplace where there was a nice fire blazing, warming both of them. Without any reluctance Kensi snuggled up next to Deeks letting him wrap an arm around her shoulder and placing her head on his shoulder. After this day it felt so good to be here with Deeks and just pretend that they were two normal people enjoying their Christmas holidays together – no NCIS, to Team, no Hetty, no criminals who most of the time wanted them dead. She took a deep breath and kept her gaze on the fire as was Deeks.

"You know this has been by far the best time I had in ages?" she asked in a low voice, nearly whispering but she knew that Deeks would hear her. In response to her words he tugged her closer and placed a tiny kiss on her hair. "Yes I know and it´s the same for me. I mean the last nearly two years have been quite incredible with a partner like you, but this is much better than I even had expected it to be."

They stayed like this on the sofa till someone knocked on the door and Deeks had to get up and open the door. On the other side of the door stood a waiter from the restaurant with their ordered food and he looked a bit startled as to Deeks only wearing a PJ, but Deeks ignored the staring and took the food from the waiter after giving him a generous tip and wishing him a nice evening.

Kensi had sat up on the couch and rubbed her hands in anticipation of the good food, Deeks just sat down next to her, placed the dinner tray on the couch table and turned the TV on so they could watch some of Kensi´s favourite TV shows, which Deeks was happy to do. The food was delicious and soon both plates were empty and the scene could have been from one of their apartments with them snuggled up and entangled in a big knot of arms and legs. Deeks was playing with Kensi´s hair and she was absent-minded drawing patterns on Deeks hand with her fingers, something Deeks thought she could be going on for the next year or so, it felt so good and so right to be here with he, cuddling with her on the sofa in front of a fire and watching her favourite series and not his.

At some point Julia came home but neither Deeks nor Kensi made any effort to get untangled, they just thanked her for the nice idea with dinner in the cabin and asked her about her afternoon and evening, listening to Julia while she was telling them all about the things Sean and she had done, before she said good night and made her way upstairs with a big smile on her face, cause her plan had obviously worked quite well and she felt so happy coming in earlier and seeing them cuddling on the sofa. Julia was sure, that those two belonged together and were kind of made for each other. But tonight she felt happy for herself as well, a beautiful day it had been and Sean was such a kind and mindful man and companion too.

After this day everyone in the Blye/Deeks cabin slept in with smiles on their faces, Julia after her nearly perfect day with Sean and Kensi and Deeks after their day full of surprises. Kensi even gave Deeks a second kiss on the cheek after retreating from his bear hug, before closing their connecting door slowly. This left everyone wondering how the next day would be able to compare with his bygone predecessor.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **Hi everyone, so here is my latest chapter for you. Sorry for the delay, but there was a tiny block in my head with this story, especially after last weeks episode ... :)**  
**I´m looking forward to your thoughts and ideas, also favs, follows and reviews are highly appreciated :) Big thank you to **Gina Callen** for beta reading and helping me with grammar stuff in this story. Have fun and enjoy your week.

* * *

**A fun ride in an open horse sleigh**

The next morning came with bright sunshine and a promise of being a wonderful day to be outside, so Kensi, Deeks and Julia were looking forward to their planned sleigh ride straight after breakfast and everyone was hurrying after breakfast to get ready and outside.

"Deeks? Have you seen my gloves? I can´t find them anywhere," Kensi called from her room, the connecting door wide open, in which Deeks was standing, following Kensi´s every move as she was running around in her room looking for her things. Nothing unusual, but Deeks honestly hadn´t expected Kensi to get so lost after two days of vacationing in a cabin.

"You know, I could warm your hands if you can´t find your gloves?" he suggested smiling at her and ducking down so the shoe from Kensi wouldn´t hit him in the head. "Hey, that´s not really nice, I´m just offering you my help so your hands won´t be frozen by the end of the day," he complained in a pouting voice but he was anything but pouting. It was too much fun to get Kensi angry.

"Kensi, Deeks? Are you ready yet? Otherwise we will be late and Sean is already waiting for us," Julia called from the hall in front of their rooms and stuck her head in Kensi´s room a moment later, looking at her daughter digging through all her stuff and nearly all her clothes lying on the floor or on her bed and then looking over to where Deeks was standing in a relaxed way in the door-frame. She just raised an eyebrow the question obvious to Deeks.

"Your daughter managed to lose her gloves after just two days in this cabin. I think that´s a new record even for her," and another shoe came flying in his direction, missing him by a few inches and Deeks knew that Kensi was well capable of hitting him precisely even with shoes, which meant she had missed on purpose. He had to smile even though Julia looked at her daughter with a slightly sour expression walking over to the bed and lifting a pair of gloves for Kensi to see them. "Here, take these and stop throwing things at Marty, would you?" she asked her daughter before turning around and making her way downstairs, still shaking her head at her daughters behaviour.

"Well, that was fun but I guess we better get going or Julia will be grumpy the whole day," Deeks said and moved through Kensi´s room to her door where he stopped and made Kensi nearly bump into him.

"Deeks! What´s the matter with you? I´m pretty sure you had spotted the gloves 10 minutes ago!" she complained while taking a step back to look Deeks in the eyes. He just reached out and patted her cheek lightly. "I´m sorry but it was too much fun to watch you digging through all your stuff." And that earned him another punch to the shoulder before Kensi pushed him out of the way and made her way downstairs as well still huffing in a low voice. Deeks followed the two women and they all made it just in time to the arranged meeting point.

Finally they had all arrived and were sitting wrapped up in warm blankets in the sleigh, Deeks and Kensi next to each other and Julia and Sean on the other side, facing backwards so Kensi and Deeks could see where the sleigh was going. The coachman had told them the ride would last at least three hours with a break in the middle for them to have some hot drinks and something to eat. Kensi and Deeks had been in an argument about who would be sitting on the left and who on the right and Julia was just about to make the decision, when Deeks made her stop in her tracks. "I know you like to sleep on the left side of the bed so I thought you might want to sit on the left as well and with you driving all the time ….," he trailed off but Kensi´s face was already turning bright red and she huffed loudly this time. "Really Deeks? You had to mention this right now?" she asked, punching him in the shoulder again and climbing in the sleigh on the right side leaving him the left side with a sweet smile after she had regained her composure.

"You know what? If you´re going to be a good girl, I might let you sit on this side for the second part of the sleigh ride," Deeks offered generous, winking at Julia who looked still a bit incredulous at Deeks and Kensi. Sean was trying to restrain from laughing but it was nearly impossible and Julia´s face was the best at this moment.

By the time the sleigh started, Julia was still not sure if she had heard right earlier but Sean did a good job involving her in a conversation about the beauty of the Lake Tahoe area, the history of the Lake and how beautiful it was up here during the summer time. Julia forgot about the small conversation soon and relaxed next to Sean smiling at him and enjoying the ride with these three people.

Deeks had put his arm around Kensi`s shoulders again and even though they had been arguing a few moments ago with Kensi pretending to be offended, she didn´t flinch away or said anything, but cuddled up to him and enjoyed being here with him and feeling his body heat even through all his layers of clothes. And if she was really still she was pretty sure she could feel his heart beat under her shoulder, which made her smile.

All of them savoured the view of the trees covered in snow, the bright blue sky and the beautiful landscape spread out around them. Kensi had grabbed Deeks hand at some point to get his attention and to show him a squirrel racing up a tree and since then hadn´t let go of his hand, but why should Deeks do anything about it, he was more than happy to watch Kensi delight showing plain on her face and sharing glances with her every now and then not unnoticed by Julia even though she was really listening to Sean. But he knew what was going on, cause just the other night he had asked Julia for how long Deeks and Kensi have been a couple which had made Julia laugh out before she explained everything to Sean as best as she could with not knowing everything about the two and their job.

The next hour past by without anyone really noticing it, the area was so beautiful to watch and they all enjoyed the companionship of each other, talked about the things they had done so far, of course Deeks had to mention the time they had spent in the sauna, which made Julia look at Kensi intrigued but she just rolled her eyes indicating she would explain later. So by the time they arrived at the place where they would have a lovely lunch everyone was in a good mood but also hungry. The cabin in front of them looked a bit like the one they were living in at the moment, but as soon as they stepped inside everything was different.

The entered a big room with dark wooded walls and a dark ceiling as well, the windows looked as if taken from a fairy tale, small with cute little curtains, on the floor there were beautiful and obviously old handwoven rugs and the tables and chairs were all made of wood, had different sizes and different coloured cushions on them and the man, who came up to them now looked different as well. He was wearing lederhosen and had a funny hat on his head with a big puff. He smiled at all of them and offered his hand to everyone introducing himself as Thomas.

"Welcome to my beautiful cabin and please sit down, I will be with you in a moment to show you the menu and ask for your drinks," he offered, indicating for them to sit down at one of the bigger tables, some of the other tables were already occupied and the smell of food lingered in the air, making everyone even more aware of how hungry they actually were. Also, the food on the other tables looked amazing and the guests all seemed to be happy with their food. So Kensi and Deeks sat next to each other and Sean and Julia and a moment later Thomas was back, 4 menus in his hands and a bright smile on his face.

"I guess it´s your first time in this cabin?" he asked and after seeing everyone nod, he continued. "Alright, so in my little cabin we offer a few German specialities, like Weißwürstchen, Pretzel and Knödel and other really delicious things. Also we´ve got a nice assortment of German beer from really dark ones to lighter ones, there is something for everyone, I can guarantee."

Deeks and Kensi were as surprised as Sean, but Julia seemed not too surprised and explained to all of them. "Yes, this was my idea. I had read about it in one of the brochures that were lying around in our cabin and I thought it would be perfect for our lunch, something different and the nice girl, where I ordered all this, assured me that it would be great and lots of guests had tried it and were always really pleased afterwards." Thomas beamed at her words and nodded in agreement.

"Thank you Mom, it sounds like a great idea to me, so I would say we try out all the German specialities? Does anyone want something in particular?" Kensi asked and looked around to Sean, her mom and Deeks, but they all shook their heads and so Thomas got the order to bring something of everything, so four people would be happy afterwards. They also ordered beer, something lighter for Julia, Kensi and Deeks went for one of the darker ones and Sean kept it average, cause he wasn´t too sure about the rich taste of the darker beer. Thomas was pleased with what they had chosen and left with a smile, hurrying to the kitchen and ordering their food, before getting their beers ready. Those arrived a few minutes later in big jugs and Julia had a bit of a problem to lift it with just one hand but after she had tasted it, she was smiling from side to side and they all had to laugh.

"Wow, that´s amazing. How is yours?" she asked the others and they all agreed that the beer tasted really good, different but much better than all the beer they usually drank out of cans. Everyone had another few sips and the joked about how the ordered food might look like, cause honestly none of them had any experience with German food before, even though Eric had talked about some of their specialities before when he was telling them about his German roots.

And then the food finally arrived, everyone just looked in astonishment at the amount of food there was on the plates, but Deeks just joked that Kensi would probably finish all of this off on her own, which earned him another one of her usual punches to his shoulder. He just beamed at Kensi and saw her face lighten up, it was still a bit of a miracle to him, but she seemed to have opened up so much more in these few days around him and he was happy, but also careful not to destroy all this gained trust and openness with a wrong word or gesture. But for now it all seemed to be fine and with that thought he gave Kensi a plate and let her choose what she wanted to try. No one was surprised to see her wanting a bit of everything and so they all had a laugh before they started to dig in and try this unusual food.

Just after two bites Kensi looked up at the others, a more than pleased expression on her face and nodded slightly. "This is really good. Oh my god. I´m not sure if I can ever go back to the food that we get during our lunch breaks back in LA," she announced and looked at Deeks, shaking her head in a bit of disbelief. Those words meant a lot coming from Kensi, cause she was the one who would probably eat nearly everything when she was hungry.

"Maybe we can convince Thomas to get a food truck up and running in LA? But I agree, this food is really good, even though I wouldn´t want to eat it every single day. There is no way I can train enough to get rid of all those calories," Deeks joked and put another bit of Knödel on his fork, something that looked like a ball made of jelly but tasted more like potato, and arranged a piece of sausage on there as well, lifting it to his mouth and closed his eyes while eating.

Sean and Julia also enjoyed the food, Julia was fascinated by those Weißwürstchen, which had to be eaten by sucking it out of its skin – sounding really wierd but that was the way Thomas had told and shown her – and with sweet mustard, combined with the Pretzels, it was delicious. Sean just looked at Julia and started laughing, some of the mustard had managed to get on the tip of her nose and when she looked at him he pointed to her nose, trying to explain what had happened. This made it just worst cause Julia tried to get rid of the mustard and rubbed it all over her nose and partly on her cheek as well and now Deeks and Kensi had joined in the laughter as well, holding their well filled bellies and pointing at Julia at the same time. Finally Sean had regained his composure – more or less – and he swiped the mustard away using his napkin.

After a few minutes everyone was back to normal and they finished their lunch, not being able to finish any of the plates, but it was just too much even for the always hungry Kensi. So they put their forks and knives down, ordered some more beer and talked for a while, Sean told them that he was here on his own after his son had to cancel the get together due to his work overseas, but he had decided to come anyway, with everything already booked and paid for and he let slip in at some point that in his opinion it had already been a more than good idea to do so with meeting Julia on his first evening at the bar. Julia blushed but didn´t say anything about it and Kensi and Deeks just shared a knowing look, Kensi was really happy that her mom had found someone seemingly so nice. She really liked it, to know that her mom had someone to spend time with as well and obviously her mom was enjoying it as well, considering the amount of time she had spent with Sean and left Deeks and Kensi to themselves.

After they all had finished their beers and had paid the bill, they went back outside after putting on their coats, scarfs and gloves and jumped back on the sleigh and under the blankets to enjoy the second part of their journey. Kensi sat close to Deeks once again, leaning into him and he was quite sure that she wasn't really aware of doing so, but he wouldn´t say a thing and just put his arm around her like he had done before and smiled at Julia, a big thank you in there as well, cause this had all been her idea. Julia nodded nearly invisible but Deeks saw it as it was, a silent ´you´re welcome´.

The second part of the trip around the lake was as beautiful as the first, they stopped every now and then, took some pictures or just enjoyed the view and then went on, so by the time they arrived back at the hotel it was later than expected, but the coachmen had been so happy with his customers and the horses had been alright after the long lunch break as well, so he had chosen a few paths that he usually wouldn´t have used with a group of tourists. It seemed everyone on and in front of the sleigh had enjoyed the day. They all thanked the coachmen and he got a nice tip for the extraordinary time they´d had.

"So, what are you up to now? Any plans for the evening?" Julia inquired while they were on their way back to the Deeks/Blye cabin with Sean coming along.

"Nope, no plans so far," said Kensi stifling a yawn and looking at Deeks.

Deeks knew Kensi well and so he got the clue. "I guess we´re going to crash on the sofa and watch a movie, is that okay for you?" he asked Julia and Sean, one arm still wrapped around Kensi´s shoulders and holding her close. By the time they arrived at their cabin, Julia and Sean had agreed on meeting at the bar in half an hour for some drinks and just a quite end to the day as well.

"No, that´s absolutely fine with us, I mean me," Julia nearly tripped over her words, but just shrugged a shoulder when her daughter raised an eyebrow at her. "We will sit down at the bar and relax a bit and you can have the couch for the evening."

"Hey, we can go upstairs, if you want to stay inside as well?" offered Kensi, but Julia just waved aside Kensi´s remorse and went inside to get changed. Sean left and waved Kensi and Deeks good night, thanking them again for the lovely day out.

Deeks closed the door after he had wished Sean a nice evening and turned around to find both women had gone upstairs and he was on his own for the very first time today. He took a deep breath and looked around the room, taking in the still decorated Christmas tree and some of their gifts still underneath it as well, the fireplace looked so cold and dark with no fire blazing in it, so he got down on his knees and rummaged around before setting some of the paper on fire to get the wood burning again. It didn´t take him long to get it going again and so he sat down on the couch in front of the fire lost in his own thoughts and that´s why he didn´t hear Julia come down the stairs again and stopping directly behind him.

"You´re such a good man, Marty and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for looking out for Kensi like you do. Always there having her back but never caging her in and you always seem to know, what she needs at every single moment you two are together. Never lose this ability and keep on looking at Kensi like you do," Deeks nearly jumped off of the sofa when he heard Julia´s soft voice directly behind him, but he was able to manage to stay where he was and just turned around so he could see her.

"Well … I guess …. I mean I will, as long as she lets me," Deeks answered with a feeling of unease towards Julia, being this open the second time on this little holiday trip.

"She will. I don´t know her as well as you do and I guess I never will, but she is a different, a better person when she is around you. And the way she looks at you when she thinks no one else is watching? She lo ….. ," at that moment Kensi came bustling down the stairs, calling out to Deeks.

"I hope there is a good movie on tonight, lots of blood and monsters!" When she looked up and saw her mom still in the room she stopped and looked from Deeks to Julia and back to Deeks, a big question mark on her face. "Did I miss something?" slowly she came closer, standing next to her mom with her hands in the pockets of her sweat pants.

Deeks shifted on the sofa, not sure how much Kensi had heard and then got up, walked around the sofa and lead Julia to the door. "Your mom was just telling me, that we shouldn't wait for her tonight and that we should enjoy the evening. Am I right, Julia?" Deeks looked at Julia with a bright and somewhat too happy smile on his face, but she got the clue and nodded.

"Right, and I was just about to leave the two of you. See you tomorrow morning for breakfast," she blew a kiss to Kensi and after grabbing her coat she left the cabin, smiling to herself and knowing everything would be alright for Kensi and Deeks.

"Wow, that was awkward," Kensi mumbled, before turning to the sofa and plopping down on it. "I´m pretty sure she was talking about me, or am I wrong, Deeks?" she asked, looking up at her partner who was still standing, just shrugging his shoulders at her question. "No idea what you´re talking about." And with that he plopped down on the sofa next to Kensi and grabbed the remote to turn on the TV, even though his thoughts were still stuck on the last words Julia had been about to say out loud. Was Julia right and Kensi was really …. No, he couldn´t even say those words in his head without grinning like a fool and he knew Kensi would know something was off. And how could Julia know what was going on in Kensi´s mind after they had just reconnected a few weeks ago? No, he had to stop thinking about it and just enjoy the evening with Kensi like Julia had said before leaving.

After just a moment of switching through the channels Kensi had found her favourite film – Titanic. So much for a nice horror movie with blood and monsters, but Deeks was okay with it, he knew there was no way of convincing Kensi to swap channels now. He settled down on the sofa, putting his feet on the table and his arm around her shoulders, while she had her feet up on the sofa and a blanket covering nearly every inch of her. Absentminded Deeks started to play with Kensi´s dark waves of hair, just listening with one ear to the conversations between Jack and Rose and all the other passengers on the Titanic, knowing Kensi would tear up every now and then during the film and use his shirt to swipe away the tears, she didn´t want anyone to see.

Nearly two hours later the film came to the part where Jack and Rose where running through the sinking ship, after they had spent the afternoon in one of the cars on the lower decks, realizing what was happening to the ship. Then Jack got arrested for stealing the precious blue stone from Rose´s fiance, but she came to rescue him and together they tried to get of the ship. Ending with both of them at the back of the Titanic after Caledon had lied to Jack and Rose about having secured a seat in one of the lifeboats for all of them. Kensi was struggling with her composure and if Deeks could see her eyes right now they would probably be watery and tiny tears running down her cheeks.

When the finale came up, Jack in the freezing cold water and Rose on the make-shift raft, she being rescued and taking his surname before finally doing all the things that they had talked about, Kensi was crying and silently sobbing into Deeks shirt. He put his arms around her, holding her as close as possible without crushing her and caressed her back while whispering softly to her. Under normal circumstances Kensi would be fine after a few moments of pulling herself back together, but today something seemed to be different and she stayed in Deeks arms, sobbing and crying at the same time. Honestly Deeks was nearly freaking out, cause he couldn´t think of another situation where he had seen Kensi like this. Because he didn´t know better he just held her and went on stroking her back and telling her that everything would be okay.

Finally Kensi went quiet and took a few deep breaths before sitting up and cleaning her nose. "I´m sorry Deeks," was all she said without looking at him, but he sensed something wasn´t alright yet and so he gently reached out and put his hand on her cheek brushing it with his thumb while trying to get her look up at him. "Hey, you don´t have to excuse your feelings, that´s okay. If you have to cry then cry," he said gently still looking at her and trying to figure out what was happening right here and now.

She sat up a bit straighter and fumbled with his shirt a stain from her tears and some mascara clearly visible, but all he could see was her face and the expression she was wearing right now, so not his usually strong and confident Kensi, but a vulnerable and soft Kensi, a side he hadn´t really seen before. "Tell me what´s going on," he asked her, waiting for her to get her thoughts together and talk to him.

It took her a few moments, but finally she looked up at him, placing her hand on top of his on her cheek and smiled half-heartedly at him. "I just had to think ….. I don´t know, these past days, the holidays …. It made me think of my dad," she said after taking another deep breath. "I had to think of him and how I miss him especially around the holidays and with my mom back in my life, he is still the one I´m missing."

Deeks was about to say something, but Kensi held up her hand and stopped him, lowering her gaze to her hands both in her lap now fiddling with the blanket, before she spoke again. "And I know that you miss your family in some way as well … I know it´s different for you, cause I guess your family wasn´t as happy as mine was, but still …. " she closed her eyes for a moment, not sure how to get it right, but decided to just say it. "Thank you, for doing all this, being here with me, with my mom, for always being there for me …. And endure all those evenings after work watching bad horror movies with me or like now Titanic for the thousands time, cause I know this is your way of looking out for me and I really appreciate it, even though I might have to kill you if you tell Callen or Sam", she ended with a small real smile, looking up at Deeks and locking eyes with him.

Deeks just sat there, taking all this in and in the end he had to laugh a tiny bit, cause those last words were so his Kensi. "You had to put those last words in there, didn´t you?" he asked smiling at her, his hand still touching her cheek and he had to pull her in for a hug, to let her know how much it meant to him as well. Kensi put her head on his shoulder, feeling his hand in her hair and the other on her back again, strong and warm and reassuringly, letting her know that he understood what she had tried to say.

"I guess we are both a bit broken, but maybe that´s the secret behind out great partnership, don´t you think? And I really did all this for selfish reasons as well, cause as much as I love Monty Christmas is not the same with just him around. You know …. I like to talk to someone while I have a nice dinner and your mom and you seemed to be a good choice in comparison to Monty," he said a smile audible in his voice and he was relieved when he heard and felt Kensi laugh against his shoulder and punch him in his stomach, much more gentle than she would normally do.

Slowly Kensi sat up and raised her gaze up to look at Deeks, really look at him and see his emotions deep down in his blue eyes, she was aware that he had been hurt a long time ago by his family, but for some reason he had managed to become this great man, always having her back and making her laugh even when all she wanted to was cry, but he also let her be herself and never judged her by anything. She wasn´t sure if Deeks knew what a wonderful person he was, but maybe the same applied to her.

Without really thinking she reached out to put her hand on his scruffy cheek, the stubble tickling her palm but she loved this feeling even though she was sure if anyone would have asked her two or three years ago if she liked men with a stubble she would have said no. But this was Deeks and he was perfect to her the way he was, so she leaned forward still locking eyes with him and saw the uncertainty on his face but she closed the gap between them in a fluid motion, placing her lips on his, shutting her eyes and holding him close with one hand and after a moment of hesitation he gave in. Both of his hands were at her cheeks and she could feel him tremble a bit, still not a hundred percent sure if this was really what she wanted and she loved him for this, for waiting for her and giving her the time and space she needed, but she wanted him to kiss her and touch her like he had probably never dreamt of being allowed to.

The kiss lasted for a few moments, both being careful and slowly finding out how to be this close to each other. By the time they ended the kiss, both were slightly out of breath and smiling, but if Kensi had thought the situation would get strange she had forgotten that she was with Deeks, her partner and best friend. He just pulled her close, settling her against his chest and his arms tightly wrapped around her shoulders, before placing his head on hers.

"Wow, that was …. Amazing? And I guess were even now when it comes to Christmas presents," he said chuckling and stroking her arm. He could feel her snicker as well and for him everything was okay, nothing weird or awkward, they had just taken another step in their partnership, being maybe a bit more of a relationship now, but they were still Deeks and Kensi, a woman and a man feeling something for each other and finally giving in to those feelings. They went on watching some TV for a bit, cuddled up on the sofa like they had done lots of times before in one of their apartments.

When Julia came back later that evening, Kensi and Deeks were already upstairs in their rooms – or maybe in one of their rooms – and Julia went straight to bed as well after she had had another great evening with Sean.

Meanwhile in Kensi´s room there was a low chuckling to be heard as Deeks had tickled her slightly when he had heard Julia coming up the stairs. How they had ended up in her bed, Deeks wasn´t quite sure, but he liked being there with her, feeling her breath on his chest and his arms around her waist. This must be heaven or at least his personal heaven, was the last thing he thought about before falling asleep with Kensi in his arms.


	7. Chapter 7

**A7N: **So here it is - the next chapter after I left you waiting for quite a while. I´m sorry for that, but my head was playing tricks on me and I couldn´t really figure out how to get this to a nice ending. That said, there will be at least one more chapter, maybe two, if I can make up my mind about writing a chapter about day 1 back at work - let me know what you think I should do.

Like with the last chapters I have to say a big thank you to **Gina Mae Callen, **who has been my Beta now for 4 Chapters and she´s been so patient with me and helped me a lot. If there are any more mistakes left in here they are all mine. :)  
Love to hear what you think and please feel free to follow, fav or even leave a review, all of it is highly appreciated.

**Disclaimer:** I don´t own any of these characters, but it was fun to play with them for a while and let them have a good time. :)

Now, enjoy!  
Blessings, Lia

* * *

**Pillow talk, Snowboards and Fanny packs**

The next morning came with bright sunshine and at least two happy people in the cabin. These two were just about to wake up in each other´s arms, unsure if the previous night had been a dream or reality. Deeks could feel Kensi in his arms starting to stir slightly and he had to touch her, couldn´t stop himself. So he gently brushed her hair aside and looked at her beautiful face. Slowly her eyes opened and she looked at Deeks, still a bit sleepy but well aware of where she was.

"Hey princess, how was your night?" Deeks asked in a low voice, a bright smile on his face, because the last evening had been the best in years. He could only hope that Kensi felt the same way about everything that had happened and didn't regret anything.

But her next words confirmed that she was absolutely alright and as happy as he was with waking up in the same bed. "Hey Shaggy, my night was perfect and yours?" She had turned around to face him completely while talking to him, now she looked at him with nearly the same smile on her face. She reached to touch his face and show him how happy she was being there, right here and now with him.

"My night was more than perfect, apart from your frequent snoring, but that was kind of cute ….," he could hardly finish the sentence before Kensi had punched him against his shoulder but once again her hand lingered in place after the punch and she leaned towards him, brushing her lips gently to his.

"You know, if you ever mention me being cute in front of the guys I will have to shoot you, right?" Kensi asked still right in front of Deeks their noses nearly touching and Deeks had to get away from her just a bit to not look cross-eyed at her. "Uhm, I guess you made that point pretty clear right now?" he answered, pretending to think about it but he would never say anything like this in front of Sam or Callen, this was just them being Kensi and Deeks and no Federal Agents.

With a short nod Kensi acknowledged his response before she snuggled a bit closer again, placing her head on his chest and taking deep breaths, she had no idea when or if there had ever been a time that she had felt this happy and just relaxed. Her life had been a sequence of tense times and moments - her mom had left her father, her dad had died too early and she had to grow up too fast, Jack came into her life, but left too soon, leaving her broken and when the job at NCIS had been offered to her, she had to get tough, serious and reliable in an instant, there was no more space for her to be just a woman, just Kensi. From there on she had been just Special Agent Blye – till Deeks stepped into her life, or more accurate fought his way into her life and her job and finally into her heart as well.

So this right now was her way of maybe getting some things back that she had to miss out on before, cause there had never been a guy after Jack and before Deeks – she had to smile about her way of measuring the time – with who she could have been honest about her job and what she had to do in the line of job, none of them would have understood her shooting bad guys and risking her life on a daily basis. But everything was different with Deeks, he knew her job, the risks and also the dark moments that came back haunting them every now and then after their assignments.

Deeks was lying very still, he could feel that something was going on in Kensi´s beautiful head and he also knew that she needed this moment to let whatever it was settle in and so he was rewarded with a low chuckle from her a few minutes later, a chuckle so sweet and so not Kensi like. Slowly he let go of her and moved his head so he could see her face again and he had to look twice to recognize her.

"Hey, who are you and what have you done to my serious and tough partner?" he teased her.

"Oh, she was a pain in the ass and I killed her during the night, death grip around the neck, you know," she shot back, still grinning and pushed him gently against his chest, just to feel his grip on her wrist a second later. She raised her eyes from where they had been lingering on his tanned and well trained chest to look him square in the eyes.

"Is there a problem? I can try and pretend I´m her, but I like to be happy from time to time and have some fun," Kensi said with a seriousness only Deeks could understand and he was alright to see her like this, trying to find out if she could actually be like this, be with him and be happy all at the same time.

"Woah, no. That´s … I think I like this Kensi, but are you okay to be my tough partner as well? Cause I need to know that my Kensi will have my back in every situation and will cover for me," he asked gently, just thinking how strange this was, cause he had always thought that she would be the one to worry about their partnership if it ever would change to something more like a relationship. But maybe she had been more broken, more fed up with all life had thrown at her then he was.

Maybe his way of dealing with life was a tiny bit more relaxed and he just took what life threw at him and made the best out of it, same he´d done when the LAPD offered him this liaison job with the NCIS. He had known back than that his work situation couldn´t get much worse so he had just said yes and thought about it later, but by the time he had met the team he was sure working with the NCIS was much better and after a few weeks he even thought that maybe they could all become a great team and Kensi was of course a nice challenge and a great partner.

Kensi looked at him, no joking or pretending, just her usual serious expression on her face and placed one hand on his cheek. "I will always have your back and whoever is thinking about hurting you will find out what I am capable of doing even with just my bare hands, alright?" Those words showed Deeks how serious Kensi took all of this, their changing partnership but it also made him think that maybe there would be times when their feelings could get in the way. They had to take one step at a time and he was sure they would get there and figure it out – together.

Instead of staying serious Deeks had to brighten up the mood and the mischievous smile on his lips was a clear hint for Kensi to know that the time for talking about this was over. And the next thing she knew happened, were Deeks fingers tickling her, making her laugh with delight and she tried to stop him by getting hold of his hands but he was fast and good and she was just half trying cause this was a nice way, maybe their way, of letting go of the tension which had been built up just a few minutes ago.

So when they finally made it downstairs for breakfast, they were both still smiling and touching each other almost without realizing. Julia´s look when she saw them coming up to the table in the living room showed surprise but a moment later just joy and she tried really hard not to grin like a Cheshire cat and maybe spook these happier Kensi and Deeks away. To gain her composure again she looked down on her plate and placed some more butter on her role, before finally looking back up and at Kensi and Deeks.

"Good morning you two, I guess your movie night was a great success?" she asked with a smile on her lips, waiting for them to sit down before she held out a jug with some orange juice, coffee was waiting in the kitchen.

"Oh, don't ask Julia. Kensi found Titanic and I had to watch it like the hundredths time with her. Can you tell me where she got this obsession from?" Deeks asked, just out of reach for Kensi to hit him and before she had a chance to get closer he retreated to the kitchen and got coffee for Kensi and himself, waiting for Kensi to say something.

"Come on, don´t pretend like you don´t like that film. Honestly, I think you´ve got a crush on Rose and I mean who wouldn´t, she is lovely and sweet and beautiful ... ," Kensi trailed of, reaching for a role and an egg.

"Yeah, you´re right. Rose is the perfect woman, maybe even wife," Deeks called from the kitchen, still preparing Kensi´s coffee, his was already done. When he finally reentered the living room, he walked past Kensi and said in a low voice, so Julia had to listen really hard, "Perfect is boring."

Kensi´s cheeks blushed, well aware that Deeks was talking about them, cause none of the two of them was perfect in any way. Julia just looked from Kensi to Deeks, who had sat down and put the coffee in front of Kensi, and then back at Kensi, trying to figure out what had happened supposedly last night while she had been out. It didn´t look like there had been a fight, Kensi´s red cheeks hinted to another outcome, but she wasn´t really sure if she could believe it. She would probably find out during the day and she was alright with being patient and observe.

Kensi had been pretty quiet during breakfast, but Deeks had covered it well, starting a discussion with Julia about what they should be doing on their last proper day at Lake Tahoe and they had exchanged ideas, both seemed to be well prepared and Kensi just nodded here and there whenever one of them asked her opinion on a certain idea. In the end, they had settled for a morning up on the mountain again with some more snowboarding and lunch in one of the cabins, even though they had all agreed that no lunch would ever be as good as the one they had the day before. Deeks had teased Kensi about not having been able to finish the food and Kensi had answered with a punch to his shoulder, which he had taken in stride and just winked at her.

For the afternoon Deeks had told them about a dam and a beautiful old bridge over at Tahoe City, just half an hour by car from their cabin, that they had to see, something about counting fanny packs and lots of fish and tourists. Kensi was used to his strange ideas, but Julia was more than happy to go with his suggestions and didn´t asked any more questions about those fanny packs that he mentioned. Her mom surprised her nearly every day with something she said or did and today it was her not reacting at all to those cryptic things coming from Deeks.

So after they had finished their breakfast and Julia had messaged Sean if he was interested to come as well, they were ready to go and just waiting for Sean to arrive, because he had insisted on meeting them at their cabin and not up on the hill. But just a few minutes later there was a clear knock on the door and when Julia opened it she was surprised to be greeted with a huge bunch of flowers and Sean nearly nowhere to be seen but she could hear him. "I´m sorry I´m late, but it took me a bit longer than expected to get these for you, Julia," he said from behind the flowers and finally he managed to get inside and lower the flowers to look at Julia.

"That was really not necessary Sean, but thank you very much," Julia replied, obviously flattered by Sean bringing her flowers, but she could hide it well and smiled at him and giving him a half hug, while holding the flowers with one hand "They are really beautiful, wow."

Kensi and Deeks shared a knowing glance, before Deeks hurried to the kitchen to look for a vase and when he had found it he filled it with water and brought it back to the living room, where the others were still standing.

"Wow, I guess we will be seeing Sean around LA quite soon," Deeks whispered into Kensi´s ear while they were standing a bit away from Sean and Julia to give them some kind of privacy. Kensi had to stop herself from shivering with Deeks being so close again and feeling his breath at her ear, but in the end she just put her hand in his and squeezed it lightly. "If my mom is happy than Sean is very welcome to visit LA as often as he wants to," was all she said while watching Sean and Julia for a moment longer.

Finally Deeks cleared his throat more than theatrically and the other two looked up from their conversation, realizing that everyone was just waiting for them to get ready and out in the snow again. "I´m sorry, of course you´re waiting. So let´s get going, with this beautiful weather, it´s going to be a fabulous day up on the mountains," Sean declared and looked from Julia to Deeks and Kensi. Everyone gathered their things, even though they had to get back to the hotel once again to grab the ski gear and everything, because they had left it there not knowing when they would be up for It again.

Just half an hour later they were ready and waiting for the ski lift to bring them up on the first mountain and this time Kensi and Deeks had a seat on their own, cause Sean and Julia had taken the previous one with already two people in there. Deeks and Kensi didn´t mind because even after spending the night in one bed and talking a bit this morning, they still had to get used to the shift in their relationship, especially out in the open. Maybe it was a good start to try this with people around they didn´t know apart from Julia and Sean. Deeks held Kensi´s hand all the way up to the top and she was sure he wouldn´t have let go if it hadn´t been for them to pick up their snowboards.

Julia and Sean were already waiting for them, enjoying the view and the nice weather. "What do you want to do today, Kensi?" Julia asked her daughter and looked to Deeks as well, being sure that they would do everything together on this last day of holiday.

Kensi shrugged her shoulders and looked at Deeks. "You think we can try a more difficult slope today? I know I haven´t done great on the one two days ago, but would be a shame going home without trying something new," she asked and waited for Deeks to consider it. In this case he was the more advanced one and would know if she could handle it or not. Somehow it was easier for her to admit this fact to herself than it would have been probably just a few days ago.

"Hm, if you want to , we can try another one, but maybe we start with the easy one again, so you can get a bit more of a routine with the movements again, okay?" he suggested and Kensi nodded her okay, she would get her adventure after all.

With that decision settled they all got on their ski and snowboards and got ready to get down the slope. Kensi´s mom and Sean were already on their way by the time Kensi and Deeks were standing on their snowboards but it was a bit more difficult to move with those tucked to your feet then with a pair of skis. Deeks watched Kensi closely while she adjusted to the feeling of standing on the snowboard again and when she finally looked up and gave him the OK they both turned their boards and started to slide downhill.

"Don´t forget to bend your knees a bit more and keep your weight always a bit more on your back foot to keep control of the board," Deeks called out to her while driving opposite of her, showing her how much better he was, being able to snowboard with his weak foot up front as well. But she tried to focus on what he said and instantly felt what she had done wrong before, the board was lots easier to control now and she smiled to herself, knowing that like this she would be able to try another, slightly more difficult slope with Deeks by her side.

When they arrived at the bottom of the slope they were greeted by Julia and Sean showing the thumbs up to both of them and Kensi had to laugh, which caused her to loose balance and ended up on her bottom, making her laugh even harder. Deeks held his hands out to her and helped her get back up and there was nothing Kensi could have done to stop him from getting the snow off of her by patting her bottom. "Deeks! I think I can handle that on my own," she exclaimed even though her voice made clear that she wasn´t mad at Deeks at all.

He stopped and grinned at Kensi, before pushing her a tiny bit and watched her fall backwards back in the snow out of which she had just gotten up with Deeks help. "What the … Deeks! What was that for?" this time her voice was a bit more pressed and the laughter from Julia and Sean didn´t help her pride at all.

"Oh, that? That was just for fun and showing you how unbalanced you still are …. But hey, if you ask really nicely I might help you up again and get up the mountain to try another slope with you," he said with a more than pleased expression on his face. Kensi´s mom looked at Deeks a bit surprised and then at her daughter and couldn´t help it any longer, she burst out laughing and now it was Sean´s turn to be surprised. When she finally got back to normal breathing she just waved aside the concerned look on Sean´s face.

"I´m sorry, but you two sound so much like a married couple without even realizing it and it´s so much fun to be around you, that´s all." Julia was still smiling and by now Kensi was up on her feet again, detaching the snowboard from her feet for the moment, to get back to the ski lift after all. "You´re welcome Mom and I guess I have to show Deeks how capable I am of going down the more advanced slopes to stop him from gloating like this again." With that she made her way over to the ski lift without waiting for Deeks, but knowing that he would join her anyway.

Deeks excused himself and hurried after Kensi, settled down next to her and just looked at the scene in front of them, instead of looking at Kensi, knowing that she was still a bit pissed but not really mad at him for that little stunt he had pulled. Slowly he moved his hand over to her leg, where she pushed it away with a loud huffing sound, but Deeks tried it again, moving his hand up her leg to reach for her hand and when she was about to push it away again, he just snatched her hand and entwined his fingers with hers and held on tight.

It just took Kensi a few moments to relax under his fingers and finally her whole body, taking a deep breath, before she looked at Deeks again. "How did you know I needed this?" she asked out of curiosity why he knew her so well and how to calm her down. Of course he just shrugged his shoulders and said: "Because I know you. And sometimes all you need is someone who bursts through the walls around you. I´m surprised that I´m obviously the only one who isn´t too scared to do just that." And there was his grin again, he felt so comfortable around her and he loved to show it, something she realized at this very moment.

"Don´t be too pleased with you, Deeks! There are still plenty of things you don´t know about me," she shot back, but with less ferocity than she would´ve done just a minute or two ago. The laughter from Deeks made her cock her head and squint at him, the question plain on her face. "What´s that all about?"

He looked down on their hands and then up at her beautiful face, still smiling but she could see a seriousness in there he rarely showed. "It´s just that you assume that I want to know everything about you right now and here, but that´s just so wrong. I´m patient, Kensi. I will learn something new about you every day and I´ll be smiling every time that happens, because it means I´m still there to learn and appreciate the things you shared with me. So don´t worry, I won´t push you or make you tell me things, you´re not yet ready to tell me." And with that he leaned in and placed a kiss on the tip of her nose, cause with their helmets on, there was no proper chance of getting a real kiss from Kensi right now.

Before Kensi could say anything in return – which would have been difficult because Deeks had kind of left her speechless – they arrived at the top again, choosing a different direction this time, to get to a more advanced slope, just like Kensi had requested. His words were still echoing through her mind, but if there is one thing she had learned during her time as a federal agent, it was to concentrate on the task in front of her. And right now that meant listening to Deeks explain to her what she had to focus on, before he gave her the thumbs up and they made their way downhill together. He was trailing behind her just a few inches so he could be there if anything happened to Kensi and she was well aware of that but didn´t mind, cause it was Deeks looking out for her and not any other person she had to prove how capable she was of taking care of herself.

This slope was longer and so it took them some more time to make it all the way down, in addition they stopped a few times to enjoy the view and make space for more advanced snowboarder or skier. In the end, Kensi accomplished this slope as well as the one before and was quite happy when they rejoined with Julia and Sean at the cabin for their lunch break.

"How did it go?" Julia asked when she saw her daughter´s happy face coming closer. Deeks showed her the thumb up and Kensi confirmed it by grinning at her mom and settling next to her on the bench outside the cabin. "It was great, much better than I had expected, but I guess Deeks is just a great teacher," she winked at him and gave her mom a surprising hug.

"What was that for my dear?" Kensi´s mom looked a bit surprised, but she leaned into Kensi and patted her hands, their heads touching and Deeks was startled a bit how much they looked like daughter and mother. They had the same grin, their eyes sparkling and of course beautiful wavy hair, even though Julia had a slight touch of red in her hair which Kensi hadn´t. Deeks sat down next to Sean and leaned over to him, still looking at the two women in front of them. "Aren´t they just beautiful?"

Sean chuckled a bit before nodding in response to Deeks words. "Yes they are and I guess we are both asking ourselves what we´ve done to find these jewels, aren´t we?" Deeks clapped Sean on his back and when the ordered drinks came he clinked his cup with Sean´s. "Yes we are, but to be honest? We are not that bad either, making breakfast, watching movies we don´t really like and even bringing flowers."

This made everyone around the table laugh and in this mood the whole lunch went by, smiles and laughs being exchanged between all of them. It also helped that their lunch was really delicious even though it was simple in comparison to the day before, but everyone was happy with it.

Just an hour later they were all back at the hotel to change into something more suitable for a day at Tahoe City and some sightseeing instead of snowboarding and skiing. Sean offered to be the driver for the afternoon and before Kensi could say something, Deeks just squeezed her hand and smiled at her to let her know it would be alright if someone else was driving. The had to drive quite a lot for work and maybe it was good to relax a bit in the backseat next to each other. Kensi´s smile showed Deeks how well connected they already were, cause she obviously had some similar thoughts on her mind like Deeks.

So, Sean went to get his car and they all jumped in, Kensi and Deeks in the back – of course – and Julia and Sean in the front seats, talking about things they wanted to do by the time Sean came to visit her in LA. He´d never been there before and he was eager to see some of the sights and the beautiful beaches along the coast. In the back there were two people holding hands, feeling like teenagers who might get caught every moment by their parents and enjoying this kind of thrill. Deeks had a blast, trying to sneak his hand up Kensi´s leg, looking at her all the while and Kensi did her best to maintain a serious face to not burst into laughing, but it was really hard work.

In the end it took them forty-five minutes to get to Tahoe City and another 10 minutes to find a parking space, cause with all those tourists around it was really crowded and when they finally found a place to park, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "God, that was hard work, but I guess we are not the only ones who wanted to have a look at some of the sights around here," Sean muttered while they all got out of the car. Kensi stretched her back a bit, she could already feel her muscles getting sore from the time on the snowboard, but she liked it, because for once this came from something she had enjoyed and not from chasing bad guys and getting beaten up. Deeks leaned in and whispered in her ear: "I can make that better by the time we get back to our cabin, if you want to." Kensi smiled at him and tapped his nose. "Oh, I can see that, you just want to get under my clothes Deeks!" He didn´t even try to deny his intentions and walked on smiling happily.

Their first stop was the dam, Deeks had been talking about this morning and by the time they arrived at the dam with its 17 bays to release the water from the higher level to the lower level, Kensi instantly knew what Deeks had meant by counting fanny packs. There were a lot of tourists around and lots of them were carrying those really silly looking bags around their waist, which made Kensi chuckle and Julia look at her with an inquiring expression.

"Sorry, I just realized what Deeks had said this morning is absolutely true, counting those fanny packs must be quite fun, especially during the summer time," she said to her mom and nudged Deeks´ rips lightly. Julia and Sean looked around and they started to giggle as well. It was just such a funny sight if you knew what you were looking for. But in the end they decided to just enjoy their time and not count any of those packs. The sight was just amazing, the water rushing through the bays, they could even see some fish in the turbulent water and Deeks impressed Kensi once more with a few facts about the Lake and the dam as well.

"So, Lake Tahoe is the second deepest in the US with a depth of 1,645 ft and the surface is in average 6,225 ft above sea level. Also, it is 2/3 in California – which is the beautiful State we are living in – and 1/3 in Nevada, the days with sunshine are around 274 and at lake level there are around 125 inches of snow each year. Now some a bit more astonishing facts, if we would pour Lake Tahoe out onto the state the size of California the water would still be 14 inches deep and the water evaporating from the lake each day could supply the city of Angels – which is our fantastic home town – for around 5 years. Isn´t that amazing?" he asked excited while reciting these facts from his memory after he had read about it this morning.

Julia, Sean and Kensi had listened to Deeks and looked at the Lake with some admiration, cause those facts were really astonishing and honestly hard to imagine if not for those examples. They walked up and down the dam and looked down at the water every now and again, pointing out things they saw and after that they just walked along the streets for bit, looking at some souvenirs in different shops, but couldn´t really decide what to pick for their colleagues or friends and walked on. It was a beautiful day and the four had a great afternoon, they stopped for some coffee to go and an hour later they all agreed to return to the car and get back to the cabin and see what they wanted to do on their last evening. None of them could really believe that this was already their last proper day at Lake Tahoe.

The drive back to the resort was relaxed and it seemed everyone in the car was kind of daydreaming, maybe think about the last few days and the things that had develop in this short amount of time – not matter if it was friendship or something more – it was well appreciated.

An hour later they were all back at the resort, getting out of the car and stretching their backs from the time in the car and the earlier exercise. While on their way back they had agreed to spend the evening together, having dinner at the restaurant and see where the evening would lead them. Kensi and Deeks excused themselves and got upstairs, eager to get a hot shower and maybe have a moment on their own, no prying eyes and no mom around who was just waiting for an obvious sign, that something had changed during the night.

Deeks walked into Kensi´s room, just following her and was startled when she stopped and turned around to look at him. "Deeks? What are you doing in my room? I think there is a perfectly functioning shower in your bathroom," she placed one hand on his chest and looked at him, a tiny smile creeping up at the corners of her mouth.

"Uh, sorry, I thought maybe I could help you …. You know with getting all clean again?" he suggested with a raised eyebrow and his hand covering hers on his chest. Kensi was well aware of his body, even through the layers of clothing she could feel his body heat, he never seemed to cold or freezing. Slowly she let her hand slide down till she finally held his hand in hers and raised her gaze from their entangled hands up to meet his gaze. "Don´t get this the wrong way, but I think I need some time on my own," she said in a low voice, placing her finger on his lips when he was about to say something, "But I would really love to get that massage you´ve been talking about earlier, okay? After my shower," emphasizing the last words cause she could read the look in his beautiful blue eyes perfectly well.

In the end Deeks nodded with a smirk and went over to his room, got undressed and stepped under the shower as well, really feeling his muscles relax after the day and he was okay with this, with Kensi slowing it down but at the same time giving him something back, opening up some more and letting her guard down around him.

After he had finished his shower and chosen some nice clothes, he knocked on Kensi´s door and waited for her to call him in before opening the door and being greeted by Kensi just wearing a towel around her body. She looked at him with a tiny smile and sat down on her bed, waiting for him to come closer. "So, I hope you´ve got your magic fingers all warmed up and ready?" teasing and trying to make jokes had always worked with them and she hoped Deeks would play along.

"My magic fingers can´t wait to get started, they are already tingling with excitement," he answered and wiggled his fingers in front of her face, before he reached out to her and gently touched her cheek. "You´re beautiful my strong and tough Kensi," his words were spoken softly, making her shiver and all over her body goose bumps pop up, showing clearly the impact his words have on her. Slowly Deeks took another step towards her and then wraps his strong arms around her tucking her head under his chin and rubbing her back in slow circles.

"So, if my magic fingers should do their magic, I think that towel has to disappear," looking at her and waiting for any kind of reaction, he was still not prepared when she let that towel just slide down her body and placed herself on her bed, just wearing underpants and nothing else. Deeks had to swallow a few times to get focused again, but who wouldn´t with a beautiful woman lying on the bed just covered by a pair of plain black underpants.

Kensi turned her head on the pillow so she could see Deeks´ face and was charmed by his expression and speechlessness once again. She seemed to have that kind of impact on him – at least sometimes. "You alright? If you´re not up for it any more than I would prefer to get dressed cause it´s getting cold like this," she had to tease him and made a move as if to get up, which finally got the attention of Deeks, he shook his head once and held his hands up. "No, I´m good, I´m perfect to be precise," and with those words he sat down on the bed and placed his warm hands on her shoulders, keeping them there for a moment, just to be sure that Kensi wouldn´t jump up and run away. He still wasn´t sure last night hadn´t been a dream.

Kensi closed her eyes the moment his hands touched her skin, she had to admit it was one of the best things she had ever experienced in her life, those warm and strong but still gently hands in contact with her skin, starting to massage her back now – her personal heaven – and she wouldn´t let any other woman ever know this feeling if it was up to her to make this decision. For the next 20 minutes Kensi just let herself go and left it to Deeks to find all the sore points in her back and well, he was pretty good at it, locating one of those areas and then getting her muscles to relax, so in the end she felt like rubber, all loose and not sure if her body was still listening to her.

When Deeks´ hands left her body she instantly felt cold and before she could say anything, he had placed the blanket over her and leaned in to place a tiny kiss on her left shoulder "I hope you´re feeling better now and I know you really like this bed, but I think we have to get ready for dinner with Sean and your mom."

Kensi sighed and took one deep breath, tucking away the memory of his hands on her and finally got up, covering her front with the blanket and showing Deeks a thankful smile. "That was really amazing, thank you. I might get back on that offer sometime soon, back at LA and at work," she said still looking at him, letting him know that she wouldn´t be running away from all this by the time they were back in LA and had to get back to work. His answer was another kiss, this time on her lips and she responded immediately pushing against his lips and closing her eyes, one hand reaching for his cheek and then moving in his unruly hair. The kiss lasted just for a few moments, but it left both of them nearly breathless and Deeks kept his eyes shut for a moment longer his forehead resting against hers.

"I better get dressed then, I don´t want to keep my mom waiting and as I can see you are already ready dressed," gently she let go of him and got up to grab her stuff, heading for the bathroom and closing the door behind her, just because she was so aware of Deeks sitting on her bed that she wasn´t sure if she would have the strength to get dressed and not get out there again and continue what they had just started.

Just a few minutes later Kensi was ready, wearing less formal cloths than on Christmas Eve, but still she looked stunning to Deeks. He had to pull her close for one more last deep kiss before he allowed her to get away from him for the moment and reach for his hand. "Let´s go, or I will tell my mom that it took you ages to get ready," with those teasing words she pulled him to the door and they made their way downstairs, where Julia and Sean were already waiting for them.

"Hey, there you are. I was just about to get upstairs and look for you, we´ve got a table reserved in 5 minutes so we better hurry now," Julia shooed them to the door, everyone grabbed a coat and the next moment they were outside.

The next two and a half hours passed by in a flash, everyone enjoyed the company and there was nearly no time where there weren´t any words exchanged, just brief breaks while they devoured their food. It was delicious like before and they all went through three courses, everyone seemed to be quite hungry after the day out and up on the mountain. During their dinner they had a bottle of champagne and clinked glasses, thanking each other for the amazing last few days and hoping to see each other again rather sooner than later in LA.

Everyone was a tiny bit tipsy by the end of the night and Sean even gave Julia a quick kiss on the cheek which made her blush and she looked as surprised as Deeks and Kensi. But after the bunch of flowers this morning they should have expected something like this. They parted ways at the door to their cabin and Sean promised to come around for breakfast the next morning to say goodbye to them.

Kensi still had to pack her stuff and so Deeks and Julia sat down for a moment in the living room while Kensi went upstairs after complaining how organized Deeks and Julia were and how unfair that was. Deeks just winked at her and just by looking at her he promised to make up for it later.

"So, I think we can say this little trip has been a big success, don´t you think so?" Julia asked Deeks, looking straight at him so she wouldn´t miss the tiniest of reactions from him. But she should have known, that Deeks as a trained agent was able to hide his feelings and his reactions – if he wanted to. Just in this case he was more than willing to share how happy he was and what big of a success it had been to come up here with Kensi.

"You could say so, for the both of us. I mean, what a nice surprise to find a true gentleman like Sean up here," Deeks answered and grinned at Julia, he still had the picture of her with those red cheeks in his mind. "And yes, Kensi and me, I think we risked to take the next step in this partnership or whatever you want to call it right now."

"Oh, I think everyone could see that. The way she looked at you this morning? It´s so nice to see Kensi like this, I think her father would be so happy for her and so grateful to you," Julia said, honesty clear in every word she said and Deeks could see in her eyes how important this was for Julia.

"Uhm, I had this kind of effect on lots of women, but Kensi always seemed to be absolutely immune to my charming personality. When she allowed me to stay at hers for the first time after we had one of our rerun marathons of her favorite series, believe me I was more than surprised. From there on I was happy about every little thing I realized as her way of telling me that I was important to her. Like I´m pretty sure there is more than one of my old LAPD shirts somewhere in her apartment and she started to come over to my place as well, pretending she wanted to see how Monty was doing. I teased her every now and then but never pushed it too far, because I was so afraid of losing it," he admitted to Julia. They kept quiet for a moment and then Julia got slowly up from where she´d been sitting, stood behind Deeks and placed her hands on his shoulders.

"I know that you will always know how to handle my beautiful, but stubborn daughter and I can´t really tell you how grateful I am, that she found someone like you. So please, keep on pushing here and there and I´m sure she will open up to you completely one day, but never forget to give something back," with those slightly cryptic words, Julia left Deeks on the sofa and went upstairs, said goodnight to her daughter and went into her room.

Deeks leaned forward, placed his elbows on his knees and entwined his fingers deep in thought about Julia´s words. He knew that there were still lots of things unsaid between Kensi and him and he was okay to give her as much time as she needed, but maybe Julia was right and Kensi deserved to know something about his past as well, something that kind of had made him into the man he was today.

Finally he got up as well, took a deep breath and went upstairs into his room so he could pack the last things that had been lying around in his room, before he knocked on the adjoining door and waited for Kensi´s answer. He was a bit surprised when she opened the door and stood in front of him smiling.

"Okay, I know that smile and there has never anything good come from," Deeks said while looking at her in yet another pair of PJ´s.

"Why are you always assuming the worst if I smile at you? Maybe I´m just happy that you´re finally here and ready to go to bed?" Kensi offered and led him into her room.

"Uh .. I don´t know, maybe because I know you? But hey, I´m happy, too and I´m ready for bed, it´s been a long day and it´s going to be long one tomorrow. Can´t believe it´s already over."

Kensi nodded, because she felt exactly the same and if she was honest, she was also a bit scared. Scared to go back home to LA and back to work after everything that had happened here. As if Deeks could sense her unease, he pulled her close, his arms firm around her shoulders and she relaxed immediately. Her arms went around his body and she felt much better knowing he would be there with her every step of it. "Have you thought about … you know, going back to work? See Sam and Callen and Hetty?" Kensi asked, without really putting those words in a proper question, but Deeks knew what she was talking about. So much for bad communication skills.

"Yes I have and I think, it´s gonna be okay. We can keep it to ourselves for a while, but I guess Hetty will know as will Nell and if Nell knows then Eric knows as well and …. You get the idea?" he asked, ending with a smirk clearly in his voice, which made Kensi chuckle into his shoulder.

"Yes, I do. But still, are you okay if we … just don´t start cuddling me in the middle of work, okay?" she said, smiling as well, cause she knew Deeks wouldn´t do anything like that if she was not alright with it. Still he wasn´t able to promise too much.

"Alright, but don´t get mad at me, if I stare at you while we´re on desk duty, okay?" he asked, now looking at her beautiful features and from the look on her face, he was happy that she was safely tucked in his embrace so she couldn´t punch him in the stomach, instead she squeezed his buttocks. "Aww! What was that for?"

"That´s for you being silly, because you´ve been staring at me even before this trip and us sleeping in one bed and kissing," she grinned at him. Deeks just grinned back and lowered his head, nearly touching her lips. "And I always knew that you loved my booty," and with that he closed the gap and pressed his lips tenderly against hers, closing his eyes and enjoying this still new feeling of Kensi being so close to him.


	8. Chapter 8

**Everything has to come to an end **

And there it was, the last morning at Lake Tahoe. Kensi and Deeks woke up in Kensi´s bed, her head on his chest and her dark hair spread out all around her peaceful face. Deeks slowly opened his eyes and stroked Kensi´s back, taking deep breaths and thinking back to the day they had arrived up here. A lot of things had changed and some things were still the same – their level of partnership had changed, but they were still Kensi and Deeks - the reason why Deeks had to start and tickle Kensi with the tips of her long wavy hair.

She wasn´t really awake yet and slightly annoyed she tried to brush whatever was tickling her away, but it kept coming back. In the end Deeks´ chuckling woke her fully up and she shot an annoyed look at him.

"Here I was thinking we could have a nice last morning," Kensi grumbled while brushing her hair out of her face and changing her position slightly away from Deeks fingers.

"Oh, I´m sorry Miss-I-am-not-really-a-morning-person, but I am having a nice last morning here with you and your adorable nose. Do you even know how adorable it looks when your nose twitches while you´re still sleeping?" Deeks inquired, smiling brightly at Kensi, even though he knew there would probably be some kind of punishment sooner rather than later.

Kensi just propped herself up and glared at Deeks before she sat up and was about to get out of bed when Deeks grabbed her gently from behind.

"Where do you think you´re going?" he asked her, his chin placed on her shoulder.

"Uhmm, I need to get to the bathroom?" she said a bit shyly, unsure how to put it, that she really had to pee. Yes, it was just Deeks, but right now it was also the man she had spent the night with.

For some reason, Deeks sensed what Kensi tried to say without saying it and after placing a sweet kiss on the side of her neck, he let her go and fell back on his pillow. All the while he waited for Kensi to come back he smiled. He felt so good, so happy and he could just hope that Kensi felt the same.

It took Kensi just a few minutes to get to the toilet, wash her hands and her face before she returned to her bedroom and Deeks. Even though Deeks had woken her, she was happy and beamed at him when she saw him, lying there in her bed with his unruly hair and that really sexy smile on his soft lips. She shook her head, surprised by her own thoughts and the way she probably had stared at Deeks.

"You´re just thinking about how good I look naked, am I right?" Deeks teased her, showing her how well he already knew her and how obvious her thoughts must have been. She just rolled her eyes and sat back down on the bed while Deeks still grinned at her.

He pulled her closer and made her lay down again under the sheets because he wasn´t done with a bit of morning cuddling and after a short look on his phone he knew they still had some time left before they had to clear the cabin and meet up with Sean for breakfast at the restaurant.

After a few moments of silence – and it was a comfortable silence between them – Kensi turned in Deeks´ arms to look at him, one hand placed on his chest, her face on his upper arm. She looked at him for another moment as if to figure out how to say something before she finally broke the silence, grateful for Deeks waiting for her to gather her thoughts.

"Are you nervous?" she wanted to know without further explanation but sure that he would know what she was referring to. With his free hand Deeks gently pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear and smiled at her, an honest and happy smile.

"Yes I am, but I´m absolutely sure that we two can handle this, our job and our relationship. We´ve already been through quite a lot and I feel like we´ve always come out stronger, not only mentally but also concerning our partnership."

Kensi took a moment to think about his words, lowering her gaze to his chest where she was drawing patterns on his bare skin. "Are you really so confident or are you trying to comfort me? Because so far it´s not really working," she replied, her eyes closed for a second before she looked back at Deeks.

"Maybe a bit of both? But in the end I´m confident in us. Do you remember when those Russian guys took you and put you in that room full of lasers? That´s when I knew you really trusted me and that we could become a really great team, maybe even as good as Callen and Sam. And then while we were pretending to be a couple housesitting in that beautiful neighbourhood? We talked about things you were thinking about and how you liked the idea of having a house, a family and the feeling of coming home to your husband – in that moment I knew we weren´t that different, cause all those things are exactly the same I am looking forward to. So, yes I am nervous and I honestly have no idea how Callen, Sam and Hetty are going to take this, us, but I will be there with you and I won´t let you down just because one of them has a problem with it." To emphasize his words, he pressed a soft kiss to her forehead and pulled her really close.

"Okay, I get the feeling you must have been a hell of a lawyer. But thank you, now I do feel better about getting back to LA and face the team in a few days," she let out a deep breath and took some strength from Deeks embrace.

"Oh, I can assure you I´ve been one of the best and I had lots of practice in encouraging speeches, but that´s something we can talk about on another day," because right now Deeks wasn´t really in the mood to talk about some of his darkest chapters in his life and the tragedies of his clients. He could feel Kensi nod and for the next ten or fifteen minutes these two sought strength and reassurance out of their closeness.

Finally Deeks took a deep breath and reluctantly let go of Kensi, just to look at her and place a cheeky kiss on the tip of her nose.

"Come on Kensalina, we really have to get going. I don´t want to make your mom wait and have to explain that her daughter couldn´t let go of my sexy body," Deeks said grinning at her while he sat up and put on the shirt he had taken off at some point during the night. Kensi snuffled a bit frustrated – both about Deeks putting on his shirt and about getting up after this great night.

"Just 5 more minutes? It´s just sooo comfy in here even though it was better with you here as well," she tried, but all she got was an all too pleased look from Deeks and a sweater thrown her way.

"Alright, I´m coming. But I´m getting in the shower first," she stated and jumped out of bed and kind of ran to the bathroom in an instant. Deeks just laughed at her and started to pack the things lying around in Kensi´s room, knowing that she would otherwise forget something. She would probably be mad at him for touching her things, but in the end he had seen all of her and she would have to deal with his tendency to clean up after her.

By the time Kensi came out of her bathroom and stepped back into the big hotel room, she looked around surprised to find her room cleaned and cleared up and Deeks on the tiny sofa checking his mails on his cell. He looked up when he heard Kensi and put on his brightest smile, hoping that Kensi wouldn´t explode or shout at him.

"Did you clean up my room, get showered and pack your on stuff while I was in the shower?" she asked sceptical.

"Yeap! It´s not my fault that it takes you ages to get in and out of the shower and I thought I help with the packing so we would make it in time for breakfast with your mom and Sean," Deeks confirmed, really pleased with himself.

"Okay, thank you – I guess – but next time I would prefer to do this on my own …. I mean there was some …. You know used clothes," she started and Deeks had to laugh about her insecurity when it came to putting those things in straight sentences.

"Kensi, we´ve been partners for some time now and I think I´ve seen your clothes in nearly every kind of state that is possible, so don´t worry I will keep your dirty little secrets your secrets," he winked at her and ducked down because there was a pillow coming his way the next second and Kensi was a really good shot – whatever the weapon.

"Deeeeks! Don´t you dare say anything like this ever again or I will think about our partnership and our relationship really hard," she grumbled while putting her last things in the suitcase and putting her hair in a loose ponytail as her hair was still a bit wet.

"Okay, I promise I won´t, but I really just wanted to help you." With that he got up, slipped his cell in his back pocket and placed the pillow back on Kensi´s bed. After that he took Kensi´s and his bag and gestured for her to follow him, because Julia was probably already waiting downstairs.

When they arrived in the nice living room, Julia looked up from the book she was reading and smiled at Deeks and Kensi. "There you are. I was worried you wouldn´t make it in time and I´d have to go get you. If we hurry Sean won´t have to wait that long." Julia closed her book and placed it in her handbag before she got up and picked up her bag, but Kensi beat her to that and shook her head slightly.

"Mom, I got this, you go and say good morning to Sean. Deeks and I will put our bags in the car and then meet you for breakfast," and she ushered her mom out of the cabin smiling at her. Deeks followed Kensi to the car and together they loaded everything in the boot, so they could get to the airport straight after their breakfast. Before Kensi could turn around and head for the restaurant, Deeks caught her hand and pulled her close.

"That was really sweet of you, I guess your mom is kind of sad as well to leave after these few great days," Deeks said while putting his arms around her waist and kissing her softly on her lips. He could feel that Kensi was reluctant for a moment to give in to his hug, but in the end she leaned in and returned the kiss.

"I´m pretty sure she is, especially after meeting Sean. But I´m also quite sure that he will come and visit her in LA sometime soon, he really seems to like my mom and I´m happy for her," she responded after their short kiss ended and she slipped her hand in Deeks, walking to the restaurant. "And I like him as well, he has been really alert and listened to a lot of small things my mom mentioned. BUT that won´t stop me from letting Eric and Nell check him out as soon as we´re back to work." Deeks laughed and when Kensi looked at him he just shook his head, knowing there was nothing on earth stopping Kensi from doing so. And in the end it was her mom and if she felt better after getting assurance that Sean was the real thing, than he was fine with that as well.

The breakfast went by in a blur, they all enjoyed this last get together and promised to stay in contact with Sean and Kensi and Deeks also let him know that they would love to see him again in LA for a visit to see Julia again. Kensi´s mom blushed at those words, but she obviously liked the idea of seeing Sean again. When they had finished and the time was really pressing Julia and Sean exchanged a quick kiss before Julia jumped in the SUV. Kensi felt a bit like watching her teenage daughter instead of her mom, but when it came to love in the end age didn´t matter.

This time Julia had denied to sit in the front again, she was perfectly fine in this big car to sit in the back and let the two lovebirds sit in the front, holding hands and exchanging looks (?) every now and then. On the way back to the airport there was a welcome silence in the car, everyone seemed to be thinking back to the last days and what a great short holiday trip this had been. Julia was more than pleased with the outcome of her daughter and Deeks´ relationship shift and she looked out the window at the snow covered mountains smiling to herself. Sometimes life was good and brought the right people together.

On the plane back to LAX Kensi sat at the window again, Deeks in the middle and her mom on his other side, one of Deeks arms was wrapped around her and she had placed her head on his shoulder, looking out the window and enjoying the view of Los Angeles underneath them, greeting them with bright sunshine and the usual colours for a city close to the sea but also surrounded by desert – red and blue. Those days up at Lake Tahoe had been really great, but right now she could feel how much she had missed her home – her Los Angeles. It was not just the city she worked in and lived, but also the place where Marty Deeks had stepped into her hectic life, with her thinking there would never be another man who could love her the way Jack had all those years back. But in the end she had to find out that there was a LAPD Detective who was more than able to love her more than she had ever imagined and who made her happier than she had ever thought she could be again. He was the missing part in her life and it had taken both of them quite some time to figure that out. But maybe it was just perfect the way it was, because like this they had been through some heavy stuff and difficult situations and came out the other side stronger and better.

With a slight huff and bright smile Kensi let go of those thoughts and just enjoyed the feeling of Deeks next to her, his arm around her shoulders and his breath in her hair – it felt so right and so good and in that moment she was sure no one would be able to get between them – neither Hetty nor Callen or Sam and especially no NCIS regulations.

Five days later - it was the first Monday after they had come back from Lake Tahoe and 2 days after New Year's Eve - they were on their way to work. Kensi had picked up Deeks before work, because they hadn´t spent the last night before getting back to OPS together. Kensi had suggested this and Deeks was happy to do so, understanding Kensi´s need to have some alone time before getting back to work and to being an agent.

"And, have you thought about what to do when we get there? Should we tell Hetty and let her decide how to handle it or do we just behave like we did before we went on that trip?" Deeks wanted to know, because he could feel that it was a bigger issue for Kensi than for him and she should be the one to make that decision. He would do whatever she thought would be the better way and the situation she could handle better.

"Honestly, I don´t really know. I had hoped you would come up with one of your lawyer speeches or strategies so I wouldn´t have to make that call," she reluctantly admitted, looking at him for a few seconds, one eyebrow raised. Deeks could see the insecurity in her face, so he put one hand on her free one and squeezed it lightly.

"Not sure if I can do that right now, but I can just let you know that I will be there with you no matter what will happen today. Is that enough for now?" Deeks really wanted to know, he had no idea what would happen today and it could possible all go wrong but in the end he really wanted to be there for and with Kensi. His gaze was fixed on her face and he waited for a reaction from her.

It took her a moment to think about Deeks´ words and by the time she found her voice again, they had arrived at the mission. She took one deep breath and looked over at Deeks. "I think I would feel better if we keep this between you and me for a bit longer. I guess in the end Hetty will find out and let us know, but till then I´d like to find a way for us to handle us and our job and life in general. Are you okay with that?" she carefully asked Deeks and looked at him, now she was the one waiting for a reaction from Deeks.

He just leaned closer and brought her hand to his lips, placed a tiny kiss on the back of her hand and smiled at her. "I´m absolutely okay with it, cause I want you to be happy and feel good with this, with us. So don´t worry, I´m absolutely sure we will be doing great and even if the team suspects anything I guess they will wait for us to say something," Deeks assured her and he could see the tiny change in her features, the way her shoulders and her neck relaxed after his words.

"Was that another great lawyer speech?" he had to tease her and lighten the mood, so they could go back to being Kensi and Deeks, special agent and LAPD detective, happening to work together in a great team, and Kensi was thankful for Deeks´ ability to do exactly that. She gave him a thankful smile, returned his gesture and after another moment she got out of the car with Deeks following her. Together they walked through the door to the mission and up to their desks where Sam and Callen were already sitting. They looked up as soon as they heard Deeks and Kensi walk up and they grinned at them.

"Hey there, how was your little Christmas holiday - together?" Callen asked them, sitting up and exchanging looks with Sam. Before Deeks could say anything funny to relieve some pressure, Kensi grabbed his hand and stepped straight up to him, looking from Callen to Sam and then to Deeks.

"Our trip up to lake Tahoe was great and before you try to get some more information from Eric and Nell with their hacker skills, Deeks and I …. We are partners, I mean we are together, a couple … you know what I mean!" she stated much more confident than she actually was, but Deeks hand in hers gave her the strength she needed to say exactly what she just did. Deeks smile also gave her back up, the same back up she knew he gave her while out hunting bad guys.

"Wow, congrats. That must have been quite a trip that you planned, Deeks," Sam commented on the two love birds in front of him. Callen still had to stomach the revelation but deep down he had already known that there was something going on between his two co-workers. Finally he got up as well and Sam and Callen hugged both Kensi and Deeks, but not without making it pretty clear to Deeks that they would both be looking out for their little sister.

Deeks just smiled and nodded, pretending everything was alright, but he knew that Sam and Callen saw Kensi as their little sister and they would do whatever necessary to protect her. Kensi could feel that Deeks was getting more and more worried and leaned closer to him and placed a kiss on his cheek. "Just relax, they´re making fun of you and I know that you would never do anything to make me unhappy," Kensi whispered in his ear looking at him for a moment.

"I can see there are some compliments are in order? Mr. Deeks, Mrs. Blye, it seems your holiday brought you even closer, something I appreciate in a good partnership, but please keep in mind that there is a job for both of you to do. Are we clear?" Hetty had stepped up to her team gathered in the bullpen and looked from Deeks to Kensi, before giving both of them a brief smile. Nell and Eric came down the steps and as soon as Nell saw Kensi and Deeks holding hands she squeaked and ran up to Kensi to hug her. Eric didn´t really know what to do but he clapped Deeks shoulder and smiled at Kensi, but in the end he was the one who had to break up this little kind of a family meeting.

"Guys, there is a dead marine, which means we´ve got work to do," and with that the whole team went straight into working mode and followed Eric and Nell up the stairs, while Hetty sat behind her desk, watching her team walking upstairs already bickering and bantering as if nothing had changed – and in some ways nothing had changed.

And so a new year had started with new cases, new stories to be revealed and people to be saved – something this little team in a sunny city in California did best.


End file.
